Sourav Ganguly’s backing turned things around for under-fire Sehwag, recalls Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra, in his short-lived career of 10 Test matches, had featured in India’s Tour of Australia in 2003-04. As India pulled off a 1-1 draw in the four-match Test series, Rahul Dravid had top scored with 619 runs in eight innings, averaging 123.80. While Sehwag amassed 464 runs at 58 average, Aakash Chopra could only manage 186 runs averaging 23.25.

There’s no doubt to the fact that Sehwag was one of the greatest players in the team but, according to Chopra, it was captain Sourav Ganguly who helped Sehwag find his form back after a rough patch in his career. The cricketer turned commentator, on the latest edition of YouTube show Cric Cast, recalled how Ganguly had backed Sehwag like many other cricketers who played under him. Chopra also admitted that it was his own fault that he got sidelined from the Indian Test setup.

"Viru, after scoring a lot of runs initially, had a big dry patch very early in his career. Sourav Ganguly had gone to Viru and told him to make runs that day else he would not be able to play him again. Fortunately, he scored a century in that game. So, Sourav Ganguly also backed a lot," Chopra said. 

"It was my mistake that when I was making 40’s-50’s, I should have been making hundreds, no one had held my bat. Although the team had given me a role to play in a particular manner, I took that role to heart. So I modified my game, that whatever task I have been given I need to perform that because that is what all players should do," he added.