New Delhi: Team India's most swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag has revealed that he wanted to retire in 2007 but later dropped the idea after master blaster Sachin Tendulkar advised him against it.
Sehwag, who finally retired on his 37th birthday on October 20, last played for Team India in an ODI game in the year 2013 against Pakistan.
"Every player wants to retire at the top of his international game. Had I also retired while playing international cricket, I could have given a retirement speech. But fate had something else in store for me," Sehwag told PTI.
"The selectors did not ask me about my future plan before dropping me during Australia series in 2013. Had the selectors told me about their decision, I could have announced my retirement in that series," said the Najafgarh-born player.
However, if we take a closer look at Sehwag's batting career he has played some crucial knocks of his life during the period from 2008 -2013.
It was during this period that Sehwag scored six of his fifteen ODI hundreds and eight of his twenty three Test tons, including his highest score in test matches. Sehwag scored a massive 319 runs against South Africa in Chennai.
Sehwag also played a gem of an innings when he scored 201 runs against Sri Lanka on a turning pitch at Galle. Sehwag hit the Sri Lankan mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis all around the park when other batsmen were finding it hard to play him.
Sehwag also played a crucial role in India winning the world cup after a gap of twenty eight years. Sehwag gave a good start at the top and it was his quick fire innings which broke the moral of the oppsition bowlers. Sehwag had set the tone by scoring with 175 runs against Bangladesh in Dhaka.
A veteran of 104 Tests and 251 one-dayers, Sehwag, who scored 8586 runs at an average of 47.35 in the longest version and 8273 runs in the 50-over format, will still be seen captaining Haryana in Ranji Trophy and playing the Masters League involving former stars in the US, which is being endorsed by Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne.
Looking at all the batting exploits by Sehwag it can be said that Sachin gave a right advice to Sehwag to delay his retirement plans. However what many fans of Sehwag would have liked is to give the 'Nawab of Najafgarh' one last chance to play for his team and bid adieu to the game gracefully.
