Virender Sehwag was the first Indian to score a triple hundred in Tests and he achieved the feat against Pakistan in Multan during India’s 2004 tour of the country, which was the first since 1989.
It was a historic tour and India came out victorious in both the Test and ODI series. Sachin Tendulkar was the only player who had toured Pakistan in 1989, where he made his India debut and returned to the country in 2004.
He was with Virender Sehwag when he achieved the historic feat of scoring a triple hundred in the Multan Test.
"I used to play tennis ball cricket where my mindset was to hit more runs through boundaries. I played with the same template in international cricket and used to calculate how many boundaries I need to score a century. If I am on 90 and to reach 100 if I take 10 balls then the opposition has 10 balls to get me out, which is why I used to go for boundaries and gave them only two balls to stop me from reaching the triple-figure mark. The risk percentage rate dropped from 100 to 20," Sehwag said on News18 Chaupal.
Sehwag recalled incidents when he went for big hits as he was approaching important landmarks, and the results were contrasting. He revealed that Sachin Tendulkar had reminded him during the Multan Test of the MCG Test 2003 when he had gotten out on 195 trying to hit a six and how India lost that match.
"I can recall the incident, we were in Australia and I hit Simon Katich for a couple of sixes to reach 195 and went for another one to reach the 200 but I got dismissed. Unfortunately. We lost that Test match. During the Multan Test against Pakistan, I hit 6-7 sixes while reaching the 100-run mark, then Sachin Tendulkar came into bat and he said if you hit a six now then I will hit you bat," Sehwag said.
Sehwag respected Sachin enough to not go for any big shots, but couldn’t keep himself from wanting to hit one when he was on 295. He recalled Sachin scolding him once more saying that he was on the cusp of creating history, but Sehwag went ahead and hit Saqlain Mushtaq for a six to achieve the triple ton.
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"I asked why? Then he told me, we lost the Test versus Australia because you went for six. I didn't hit a six from 120 to 295 runs and then I told him that I will hit a six now to complete the triple century. Sachin said, 'Are you mad? No one has hit a triple century for India.' I replied no one has scored 295 also and I stepped out to hit Saqlain Mushtaq for a six and reach 300. Sachin Tendulkar was happier than me after that," Sehwag added.
(News18 inputs)
