Virender Sehwag, the former India opener, has retired from all international cricket and from the Indian Premier League.
Considered one of his country’s greatest batsmen, and one of the cleanest ball-strikers in history, with 8,586 runs from 104 Tests, Sehwag chose his 37th birthday to declare the news.
“I have always done what I felt was right and not what conformists thought to be right,” Sehwag said. “God has been kind and I have done what I wanted to do - on the field and in my life and I had decided some time back that I will retire on my 37th birthday.”
Initially considered a limited-overs player, Sehwag flourished upon his introduction to the Test arena in 2001 and opened for the first time during India’s 2002 tour of England. The following year, Sehwag spent a brief period in the County Championship with Leicestershire before his contract was terminated due to a back injury.
Sehwag was part of the India team that reached the World Cup final in 2003 and won the tournament in 2011. He also featured in the team that won the inaugural World Twenty20 title in 2007 but he last played for India in 2013.
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Sehwag was famed for his mindset when batting at least as much as his technique. He would not deviate from his natural attacking game, particularly his intention to drive seam bowlers on the up. On his day, and especially with fielding restrictions at the start of a one-day innings, this made him one of the most feared adversaries in world cricket.
In 2005, Stuart Clark, the seam bowler, was due to play for Australia in a match against a Rest of the World XI featuring Sehwag. “Just had a bowlers’ meeting,” Clark joked beforehand, “the area of the pitch we’re supposed to land it on against Sehwag is about two millimetres by two millimetres.”
Sehwag’s career in numbers
Test record
104 matches, 8,536 runs, highest score: 319, average: 49.34
ODI record
251 matches, 3,853 runs, highest score: 219, average 40.13
278 balls
Duration of Sehwag’s triple century against South Africa in Chennai - the only triple century ever scored at better than a run a ball.
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4
Sehwag’s Test scores of more than 250, second only to Don Bradman, who passed the landmark five times.
219
Sehwag’s record score in one-day internationals, made against the West Indies in Indore in December 2011. The record stood until Rohit Sharma made 264 against Sri Lanka in November 2014.