Two years and more after he played for the last time in India colours, Virender Sehwag on Monday called time on his international cricketing career in Dubai.
Two years and more after he played for the last time in India colours, Virender Sehwag on Monday called time on his international cricketing career in Dubai.
The dazzling strokeplay that characterised his batsmanship had shone through fitfully in the last year or so in the Indian Premier League and on the domestic circuit, and given that Team India have moved on, the retirement was perhaps inevitable.
One sign that priorities were changing came when Sehwag, who turns 37 on Tuesday, shifted away from his home base in Delhi to play for Haryana in the Ranji Trophy.
The shutters, it seemed were coming down on a mighty career, one that spanned 104 Test matches in 12 years and 251 one-day internationals.
Viru, as he will always be fondly called, may not have got the huge number of runs some of his compatriots like Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid accumulated, but almost every run scored was a spectator’s delight. In all, he piled up 8,586 runs in the Test arena with a highest of 319 runs, and a spanking average of 49.34. In ODIs, he aggregated 8,273 with a best of 219 and a 35.05 average.
But these are just the figures. Sehwag remains the only Indian to score a triple hundred in Tests, and he did it twice. He was the first across the 200-run barrier in one-dayers too and his 319 against South Africa in Chennai seven years ago, is still the quickest triple in history.
In all, he scored 17,253 international runs across all international formats, including his 19 T20 internationals, which gave the right-handed marauder 394 runs in all.
First and foremost, Virender Sehwag was an entertainer, and not once did it ever appear that a score or a record or a landmark was on his mind when he batted. Yet, he was also a shrewd cricket thinker, whose bluff approach to the game hid a keen understanding and appreciation of situations and possibilities.
In more ways than one, India were left poorer after he fell off the selectorial radar after the last of his international appearance in 2013. He was — and will remain — a unique force, and one that propelled India to historic performances, both at home and away.
And perhaps there was none better than his 2004 tour of Pakistan, from which India returned with victory in both the Test and ODI series.
