Former India captain and the first captain in ODIs to hit a double century, Virender Sehwag turns 40 today. Born on October 20, 1978, in Najafgarh, Delhi, Sehwag made his international debut for India in 1999.
Things changed for him as he was asked to open in ODIs by Sourav Ganguly and then in 2001, scored a century on Test debut against South Africa. Sehwag played 104 Tests and 251 ODIs for India, making 8586 and 8273 runs respectively.
He is also the first Indian to score a triple hundred in Tests, which came against Pakistan in Multan Test of 2004 and then repeated the feat against South Africa in 2008, making him one of the four batsmen in Tests to hit two scores of over 300, with Chris Gayle, Brian Lara, and Sir Donald Bradman being the other three.
He scored 23 Test hundreds and 15 ODI centuries in his career and is one of the few batsmen to have a strike rate of over 100 in ODIs. Sehwag last played for India in a Test against Australia in Hyderabad in 2013 and announced his retirement from cricket in 2015.
The cricket fraternity took to Twitter to send their wishes to Virender Sehwag.
Here are some tweets:
Legend, @virendersehwag - I just want to wish U a happy birthday and long life! Keep inspiring! Lots of respect to you and hope you get some cake on the face ???? have a great day ???????? #ViruBirthday #Youngster ????????????????????
— Chris Gayle (@henrygayle) October 20, 2018
Happy birthday, @virendersehwag. Have a wonderful day bro!
— Kevin Pietersen???? (@KP24) October 20, 2018
Wishing you a Very Happy Birthday Viru Paa. ???????? Wish I could’ve returned the favour by putting some cake on you today! ???? @virendersehwag pic.twitter.com/ykXpaMBHP2
— K L Rahul (@klrahul11) October 20, 2018
Wishing you a very happy birthday Viru bhai @virendersehwag ????????????
— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) October 20, 2018
May you be blessed with health and happiness forever! #HappyBirthdayViru pic.twitter.com/SLsVeKL36D
Wishing the modern generation's Viv Richards a.k.a. @virendersehwag, my dear friend a very happy birthday! Hope you have an eventful year full of happiness and joy! pic.twitter.com/XkXlikLy22
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) October 20, 2018
Wishing a happy birthday to @virendersehwag. May you live a long, happy and healthy life and get everything you want. God bless Viru paaji. @BCCI pic.twitter.com/YipE6d6MZa
— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) October 20, 2018
Happy Birthday to a thorough entertainer @virendersehwag . Wish you happiness and success in all you do #HappyBirthdayViru pic.twitter.com/dQcWZjlN1l
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) October 20, 2018
Heartiest wishes to you on your Birthday, Virubhai. Tum jiyo hazaaron saal saal ke din hon pachaas hazaar. @virendersehwag #viruHappyBirthday pic.twitter.com/KbHgdSmLfu
— Ishant Sharma (@ImIshant) October 20, 2018
The man who defined hard hitting! Happy birthday @virendersehwag! Have a joyous year ahead!
— cheteshwar pujara (@cheteshwar1) October 20, 2018
Happy Birthday Viru paaji @virendersehwag . May God bless you with good health and prosperity.
— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) October 20, 2018
Happy Birthday @virendersehwag paaji. Wishing you good health and happiness in life!????
— Jasprit bumrah (@Jaspritbumrah93) October 20, 2018
Happy birthday to a person who gives so much delight and happiness @virendersehwag #HappyBirthdayViru pic.twitter.com/SiyxfV04SN
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) October 20, 2018
Viru sir @virendersehwag happy birthday
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) October 20, 2018