Sachin offered to bat at No.4 to make way for Sehwag to open, reveals Ajay Ratra 

Ganguly partnered with Sehwag in opening the innings back on July 26 off 2001 during the Coca Cola Cup tri-series between India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.  India, who had lost their first two fixtures in the tri-series, lost the third match as well while Sehwag scored a 54-ball 33. However, Sehwag’s 33 was the highest score for India and it only took him three more innings as an opener to score a blistering 70-ball hundred to justify his place at the top of the batting order.

In this regard, former India wicket-keeper batsman Ajay Ratra credited Sachin Tendulkar for sacrificing the opening slot and offering to bat at No.4 to allow Sehwag to open for India. Ratra added that the credit for Sehwag metamorphosis should be shared amongst Ganguly and Tendulkar. 

“Sachin took a different role. He volunteered to bat at No.4.He did it for the side. His role was then to bat till the 45th over. And the move worked, Viru became so successful at the top. A lot of the times, Viru is called unconventional but if his natural instinct was stopped then it might have been a different story. So Viru had the support to go for his shots and had that liberty. It is very important to back these players. Yes, people used to advise him when he used to play bad shots but he was never told to change his game,” Ratra added.