Former team India opener Virendra Sehwag has made a big revelation about his career. The opener was talking about the 2008 CB Bank series played in Australia with Sri Lanka being the third team.
The India National Cricket Team played 10 games in the Commonwealth Bank tri-series, with hosts Australia, India, and Sri Lanka, but Sehwag only played 5 games due to his poor performance. He was dropped from the starting XI after scoring 6, 33, 11, and 14 runs in the first four games.
Virender Sehwag reveals he wanted to take ODI retirement in 2008
Virender Sehwag, the former India opener, had a legendary career and was a key member of Team India in all formats. Despite losing his place in the playing XI on a few occasions, Sehwag always bounced back and had a long career. The former India vice-captain appeared in 104 Tests, 251 One-Day Internationals, and 19 Twenty-20 Internationals. Under MS Dhoni, Sehwag also won two World Cups (2007 T20 WC and 2007 50-over World Cup).
In 2011, he was instrumental in India’s title victory. Sehwag, on the other hand, would not have played in the tournament if Sachin Tendulkar had not intervened to prevent him from retiring. After Dhoni dropped him in 2008, Sehwag recently stated that he wanted to retire from ODI cricket. After failing to score consistently in ODIs, the aggressive opener desired to play red-ball cricket.
“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,” Sehwag said.
“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 added.
Sehwag made a strong comeback and was a key member of the team that won the 2011 World Cup. In 2012, he became an irregular member of the team, and in January 2013, he played his final ODI. In March of that year, he made his final Test appearance.
