Virender Sehwag retired from the game as one of India's finest openers in the history of the game. However, the explosive right-hander's journey would've been very different and probably not as successful if he hadn't followed the advice of his once skipper Sourav Ganguly.
Sehwag, who was still finding his feet at the international level, felt wary when Ganguly asked him to open the innings in both Tests and ODIs.
Ganguly realised Sehwag's potential and the immense value he would bring to the side, but there was no vacancy in the middle-order, especially in the Test line-up, with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman still playing their best cricket. Hence, the only slot available was at the top of the order.
As it turned out, Sehwag, who scored his maiden Test hundred batting at No.6 in 2001 in Bloemfontein, adjusted swiftly to the opening slot and went on to carve out a great legacy for himself.
Former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Team Director, Joy Bhattacharjya, looked back at Ganguly's tenure and pointed out Sehwag's promotion as a pivotal moment in the game, during an interaction with Gaurav Kapur on an episode of '22 Yarns' podcast presented by Oaktree Sports, uploaded on Spotify and YouTube.
"Look at Yuvraj, look at Sehwag. You know what he does to Sehwag. He turns around and says to him ‘look the middle order is too crowded. If you want to play for India, you have to open. There is me, Tendulkar, Laxman, Dravid... where are you going to get a chance?'," said Bhattacharya.
"Yuvraj Singh did not get a chance (in Tests) for so many years because the middle order is crowded. Go and open’. And what happened was that Sehwag opened and the history was made."
Sehwag played 104 Tests, 251 ODIs and 19 T20Is and scored over 17,000 international runs, batting with jaw-dropping flamboyance and selflessly attacking mindset for the team's cause.
