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Thought of quitting ODI cricket after MS Dhoni dropped me, reveals former Indian opener Virender Sehwag

WION Web Team
New Delhi, India Updated: Jun 01, 2022, 04:50 PM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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Virender Sehwag wouldn't have played the 50-over World Cup in 2011 had it not been for Sachin Tendulkar. Here's the whole story:

Virender Sehwag remains a big name in world cricket. Sehwag was part of the golden era in Indian cricket where he rubbed shoulders and shared the dressing room with some superstar cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, etc.

Sehwag represented India in 104 Tests, 251 ODIs and 19 T20Is and was part of India's glorious wins in the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup. However, Sehwag wouldn't have played the 50-over World Cup in 2011 had it not been for Sachin Tendulkar. The former Indian opener recently revealed he was taken aback by his ODI omission, during the 2007/08 CB series which India won under MS Dhoni, and Tendulkar's advice helped him from rethinking about his retirement from the 50-over format.

"In 2008 when we were in Australia, this question (of retirement) came to my mind. I made a comeback in the Test series, 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 told Cricbuzz.

"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 went onto represent India in the ODI format till 2013, the same year where he last played for the national side before announcing retirement two years later.