Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag recalled the dark phase of his career. He revealed that he wanted to retire from the ODIs after MS Dhoni dropped him in 2008 but it was Sachin Tendulkar who changed his mind.
Sehwag was one of the best openers of his time. The right-hander was mainly known for his aggressive style of play as he only believed in dominating the bowling line-ups in all three formats of the game and probably was one of the most exciting batter the game of cricket has ever witnessed.
Opening the innings Sehwag achieved various milestones and had a strike rate of 82.2 in Tests, 104.3 in ODIs and 145.3 in T20Is. He was the first Indian batter to score a Test triple hundred when he made 309 against Pakistan in Multan in 2004 and then became only one of the four batsmen to make two triple centuries in Tests when he made 319 against South Africa in 2008 in Chennai.
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In his career spanning 14 years, broke numerous records and won many matches for his team. He is also one of only two players in the world to score a double hundred in ODI and a triple hundred in the longest format of the game. Apart from his career achievements, very few know that there was a time in his career when he decided to quit the game.
Speaking on Cricbuzz's show 'Match Party’, Sehwag revealed that he thought of retiring from the ODIs after he failed to score runs during the Australia tour in 2008 and skipper MS Dhoni dropped him from the playing XI.
"In 2008 when we were in Australia, this question (of retirement) came to my mind. I made a comeback in the Test series, and scored a 150. In the ODIs, I couldn't score that much in three-four attempts. So MS Dhoni dropped me from the playing XI then the thought of quitting ODI cricket came to my mind. I thought I will continue playing only Test cricket," Virender Sehwag said.
Sehwag said that it was Sachin Tendulkar who stopped him from making that decision as he motivated him by saying that he was going through a bad phase and he should go back home and think before taking any decision.
"Sachin Tendulkar stopped me at that time. He said 'this is a bad phase of your life. Just wait, go back home after this tour, think hard and then decide what to do next'. Luckily I didn't announce my retirement at that time," he said.
When asked about whether Virat Kohli will be considering taking a break from cricket due to his lean patch of runs, Sehwag categorized cricketers into two categories - one who wants to prove their critics wrong and others who don't care about criticism at all. He said Kohli is of the first type while he was of the second type.
“There are two types of players - Those who like challenges, they have fun in such situations and Virat is one of those. He listens to all the criticism, reacts on the field by scoring runs to prove them wrong.
“The other type are the ones who are unaffected by all the noise because at the end of the day they know what they need to do. I was that kind of player. I didn't care who criticised me. I wanted to play, score runs and go home,” he said.
(Cricbuzz inputs)
