Former India batsman Aakash Chopra opened with Virender Sehwag in the ten Test matches he played. Chopra liked the honesty in Sehwag and the way he acknowledged his strengths as well as weaknesses.
Talking to Gaurav Kapur on his podcast '22 Yarns', Chopra said even though Sehwag was very aggressive, he had the idea of going after only those deliveries that came in his radar. The explosive India opener showed discipline at times which helped him become a productive Test batsman.
“His (Sehwag) strength is that he is brutally honest about what he could and couldn’t do. Even with all the bravado and aggression and ‘Viru’ style of playing, you won’t remember him actually taking on a bouncer. Now that’s discipline,” Chopra said.
“That tells you loads about what’s behind that exterior, that facade that we see, which is carefree, happy-go-lucky, see the ball hit the ball. He’s seen a bouncer, and he hasn’t attempted it in 8,000 Test runs. So that kind of discipline, understanding, and conviction in his own game was unbelievable,” he added.
Chopra also recalled Sehwag's words which showed how well he understood his game. “He would tell you, ‘Yaar ball zyada swing ho raha hai, aaj mera nahi chalega, tu wahi reh (ball is swinging too much, my shots won’t work),’ knowing fully well ke ‘ye meri strength nai hai (today is not my day)’. See, understanding your strengths and weaknesses is very important. Knowing what you can, and more importantly, can’t do. He knew that ‘abhi ball swing ho raha hai, has jaunga. Chod na, abhi 5-7 over nikal jayenge to achha hi hai (Ball is swinging now, I will get stuck. Let us stick out 5-7 overs in the middle)’. He knew that if he stays there then he can put them to the sword,” he further recalled.
Sehwag had once warned Aakash to look after his performance and not give away the early starts he got. Chopra had only two fifties in 19 innings he played for India. “He would come and tell me, ‘Chopraji ye 40-40 run maar rahe ho drop ho jaoge team se. Set hone ke baad out hone se koi khelta nahi hai aage (Chopra ji, you are scoring 40-40 scores, would be dropped from the team. No one stays in the team if he gets out after settling down).’ And he would also say the same thing about himself,” he recalled.
Despite not much success in international cricket, Chopra had an illustrious first-class career and scored 10,839 runs which included 29 hundreds.
