Former India wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra on Thursday (July 16) said the legendary captain Sourav Ganguly and batting great Sachin Tendulkar deserve credit for Virender Sehwag’s elevation to the opening position in ODI cricket.
“Sachin was doing so well as an opener at that time but Sehwag had to open. So Sachin offered to bat at No.4. Sehwag then opened with Dada (Sourav Ganguly) for that left and right combination. If Sachin hadn’t agreed then Viru probably would have had to bat lower. He wouldn’t have got the chance to open in ODIs and the story could have been a lot different,” Ratra said in an exclusive chat with Hindustan Times.
Sehwag was not doing justice to his talent in the middle-order at the start of his ODI career and that’s when Ganguly took a gamble by prompting him at the top.
After failing in the first three innings as opener, Sehwag gave a glimpse of his blistering batting to the world as he slammed a 70-ball ton to script India’s victory against New Zealand in 2011. That century gave birth to Sehwag the opener and he never looked back thereafter.
Ratra also revealed that for the common good of the team, Tendulkar volunteered to bat at No. 4.
“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,” said Ratra, who was part of the Indian side when all the transition at the top was taking place in 2002.
As it turned out, India got benefitted by this move and the team won the 2002 Natwest Trophy in England and were the joint-winners of 2002 Champions Trophy alongside Sri Lanka.
“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.
Sehwag is widely regarded as the most devastating opening batsman produced by India. As an opener, he scored 7518 ODI runs, which is more than 90% of his career aggregate of 8273 runs. Moreover, 14 out of his 15 ODI tons came while opening the innings.
