Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag has revealed that he wanted to quit playing the One-day Internationals after he was dropped during the 2008 Australia tour. He added that Sachin Tendulkar changed his mind to continue playing the format.
During the Commonwealth Bank Tri-series against Australia and Sri Lanka, Sehwag played just five out of the ten matches. His scores in the first four matches read, 6, 33, 11, and 14. He was dropped from the playing XI after the four games. However, he got another opportunity against Australia, but could not make it count.
Speaking on the Cricbuzz show ‘Match Party’, Sehwag revealed that he wanted to retire from the ODIs. He further stated that Sachin Tendulkar convinced him to not quit by saying that it is just a bad phase. Sehwag stated:
“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.”
“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.
Virat Kohli likes challenges and has fun in such situations: Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag shared the above story when he was asked whether Virat Kohli should consider taking a break from cricket. The 33-year-old is going through a lean patch in his career for the last couple of years.
Sehwag expressed that Virat is the kind of player who enjoys challenges and proves his critics wrong by performing on the field. He stated:
“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 and reacts on the field by scoring runs to prove them wrong. The other type is 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 and didn’t care who criticized me. I wanted to play, score runs and go home.”
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