Confusion over Sehwag’s imminent retirement from international cricket
Virender Sehwag’s presence alongside retired batting greats, Brian Lara and Graeme Smith at the launch of 2016 Masters Champions League (MCL) Twenty20 in Dubai on Monday, triggered speculation in Indian media as to whether the former dashing opener was making public his imminent retirement from international cricket.
“If I am not retired I will not play. I will go back to India and announce my retirement,” Sehwag reportedly told the gathering at the unveiling of the veterans’ league.
The MCL is scheduled to be held in February, which allows the former dashing opener, who turned 37 on Tuesday, to complete the current Ranji Trophy season with Haryana before joining the league for retired cricketers.
Two leading Indian dailies carried contradictory reports.
In a report headlined “Sehwag ready to end international career”, The Times of India on Tuesday quoted Sehwag as saying, “I am not announcing my retirement right now because I have the whole domestic season coming up. However, I don’t think I am going to figure in India’s international scheme of things anymore. Therefore I might come back to India and announce my retirement from international cricket.”
The Hindu, on the other hand, ran a story headlined “Sehwag denies rumours” where the batsman confirmed to the broadsheet that he had not yet retired from any form of cricket.
Last week, Zaheer Khan called time on his career, and with Sehwag likely to join him soon, it is possibly the start of another generation of Indian legends bidding adieu to the international game.
In his prime, Sehwag was arguably the most destructive batsman in world cricket, and a key member of the Mahendra Dhoni-led side that climbed to the No 1 ranking in Tests. He was a member of two World Cup-winning teams – the 2007 World T20 in South Africa, and the 2011 ODI World Cup in the sub-continent.
Sehwag is India’s only Test triple centurion, and one among only a handful of global batsmen to have scored two Test triple centuries and four other double centuries. He came close to recording a third triple ton when he scored 293 against Sri Lanka in Mumbai in 2009.
The Delhi batsman is also one of only five international batsmen to have scored a double century in One-Day Internationals.
In a Test career spanning a dozen years, Sehwag, who cracked a century on debut, played in 104 matches and scored 8,586 runs at an impressive average of 49.34, with 23 centuries and 32 fifties. Fourteen of his hundreds were scores of over 150.
The ‘Nawab of Najafgarh’, as he was fondly referred to for his easy, and, at times, nonchalant batting style, Sehwag also scored 8,273 runs at an average of 35.05 with 15 hundreds and 38 fifties in 251 ODIs, spanning 14 years. Sehwag also recorded 394 runs with two fifties in 19 Twenty20 Internationals.
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