Birthday special: Virender Sehwag – Lesser known facts about the Indian stalwart

Since the inception of the game, cricket has been witness to several dashing and gunslinging batters. While Virender Sehwag might not have possessed the swagger of Viv Richards or the poise of Sachin Tendulkar, he was in a league of his own when it came to traumatizing the opposing bowlers. Sehwag, throughout his career, was assigned the duty of providing a brisk start for the Indian team. But the mercurial opener had a penchant for scoring big runs for his team. Although his style was more suited to the shorter formats of the game, Sehwag murdered records in the traditional format of the game at an unprecedented rate. On his 45th birthday, we list some of the lesser-known facts about one of the crickets’ greatest entertainers.

He was gifted a cricket bat when only 7 months old

Virender Sehwag approached his innings with utter clarity and simplicity, if the ball was there to be hit, he would hit it without any hesitation. His instinct probably developed at a very young age as his love for cricket started at the tender age of seven months when he was gifted a cricket bat.

Banned from playing cricket at the age of 12

India would’ve missed out on a legendary figure had he listened to his father when he was 12 years old. A young Virender Sehwag was banned from playing cricket by his father when he broke a tooth during a cricket match. But the relentless youngster convinced his mother to overturn that decision, and the rest, as they say, is history.

A habit of reciting songs and hymns

Virender Sehwag’s uncluttered approach at the crease surprised a fair few. The mercurial batter once revealed in an interview that he used to recite songs and bhajans at the start of his innings to get into a rhythm. Fans also got to see this side of his game when the former Indian cricketer was heard singing at the crease while batting alongside Sachin Tendulkar in a charity event.

An altercation with Shoaib Akhtar

The former Indian opener had a fair few tussles in his glittering career with the most renowned one being with former Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar. Sehwag, who was amidst one of his marathon innings, was bombarded with short balls by Akhtar, who enticed the batter to bring out the pull shot. Sehwag, in reply, warned Akhtar not to try a similar tactic against his batting partner Sachin Tendulkar. Bu the Paksitani pacer did not pay heed to his words and dished out a bouncer to Sachin, who pulled it for a handsome six. Sehwag had a wry smile on his face after goading Akhtar into the trap.