Virender Singh was the most dangerous opener of his time for the Indian cricket team.Virender Sehwag was born on 20 October 1978 in Delhi . Virender Sehwag started his domestic cricket career with Delhi Ranji.Virender Sehwag made his domestic cricket debut for Delhi in the 1997-1998 season.Virender Sehwag made his debut in English county cricket for Leicestershire in 2003.Virender Sehwag captained North Zone in the Deodher Trophy and won the Deodher Trophy in 2004-05 and 2005-06.Virender Sehwag made his T20I debut match against South Africa on 1 December 2006 in Johannesburg.Virender Sehwag captained in his debut T20I match and won by 6 wickets against South Africa.Virender Sehwag started his ODI career on 1 April 1999 against Pakistan in Mohali and scored only 1 run and gave 35 runs in 3 overs.Virender Sehwag was out lbw by Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar in his debut ODI match.Virender Sehwag also captained in his very first ODI match.Virender Sehwag scored a century in his debut Test match against South Africa and scored 105 runs.He played his debut test match against South Africa on 3 November 2001.Virender Sehwag played for two IPL franchises Delhi Daredevils and Punjab Kings and scored 2728 runs in 104 matches at a strike rate of 155.44 and scored a century.In 2013, Virendra Sehwag retired from international cricket.
Early life & Education
Virendra Sehwag started his education from Delhi. At the age of 12, while playing cricket, Virendra Sehwag broke one of his teeth due to which his father banned him from playing matches.Virender Sehwag was a resident of Delhi but he did all his studies from Delhi.Virender Sehwag completed his schooling till class 12 from Arora Vidya School, Delhi.Virender Sehwag did his graduation from Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi. Virender Sehwag belongs to a Jat family of Haryana.Sehwag learned his initial cricket rules and regulations from coach A N Sharma, who used to coach at the Cricket Centre in Vikaspuri.
Domestic Cricket
Virender Sehwag played domestic cricket for Delhi and North Zone.Sehwag used to play Ranji Trophy for Delhi .Sehwag once played an innings of 187 runs in 175 balls against Punjab while playing for Delhi.Virender Sehwag, while playing Duleep Trophy for North Zone, made his team champion in two consecutive seasons in 2004-05 and 2005-06 and also captained the team in both the seasons. Playing for North Zone in the 1999 Duleep Trophy season, he made an innings of 274 against South Zone at Agartala, which is his highest score in the Duleep Trophy. Virender Sehwag, playing for Board President’s 11, was the top scorer for his team against Pakistan.Virender also toured South Africa in 2000-01 for the Under 19 Indian cricket team.Virender Sehwag played a total of 194 matches in his first class career and scored 14683 runs during his domestic cricket career.
International Career
ODI Career
Virender Sehwag made his ODI debut against Pakistan in Mohali in April 1999.Virender Sehwag became the wicket of Pakistan’s fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar in his debut match and scored only 1 run in his debut match.He was out lbw in his debut match by Shoaib Akhtar and bowled 3 overs and gave 35 runs.Due to not performing well in his debut match, Virender Sehwag was not given a chance to play in the national cricket Indian team for 20 months.Virendra Sehwag did not get a chance even in the home series against Zimbabwe in December 2000.Virender Sehwag in his fourth ODI match against Australia in March 2001 in Bangalore scored 58 runs in 54 balls and also took 3 wickets and led Indian team to victory with his all-round performance.And also won the Man of the Match title.In August 2001, Virendra Sehwag was selected as the opener for the tri series between Sri Lanka and New Zealand.Virender Sehwag scored his first ODI century in 69 balls against New Zealand in the final match of the Tri-Series which was the 3rd fastest ODI century by an Indian at that time And this was the 10th match of his ODI career in which he got Man of the Match for his century performance against New Zealand.His century in the final of the Tri-ODI series against New Zealand earned him the position of a regular middle order batsman in ODI.In 2002, against Kenya in Bloemfontein, Virendra Sehwag scored a half century in 22 balls while attacking batting which was the second highest half century by an Indian batsman at that time.Virender Sehwag made millions of people his fans in his early days with his attacking cricket and aggressive shots.In January 2002, Sehwag was selected as an opener for the home series against England, where in one match he scored 82 runs in 64 balls in Kanpur.Virender Sehwag was made a permanent top order batsman for his opening performance and Sachin Tendulkar had to settle in the middle order.In the ICC Champions Trophy held in Sri Lanka in 2002, Virendra Sehwag scored 271 runs at an average of 90.33 and won the Man of the Match title in two matches.Virender Sehwag scored 58 runs in 54 balls against South Africa in the semi-final match of the 2002 Champions Trophy and also took 3 wickets for 25 runs which helped India reach the finals.After that, Virender Sehwag made a 196-run partnership with Sourav Ganguly against West Indies in Rajkot and scored 114 runs in 82 balls and played an important role in India’s victory.Virender Sehwag is the only player who scored 2 centuries against New Zealand in a 7 match series.