The truth is out! Sehwag tells friends of Zaheer Khan during the Mumbai test that it was their mate who suggested to Ganguly to promote him to the opening position first in 2001
The truth is out! Sehwag tells friends of Zaheer Khan during the Mumbai test that it was their mate who suggested to Ganguly to promote him to the opening position first in 2001u00a0
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Virender Sehwag (left) plays host to speedster Zaheer Khan and his National Cricket Club teammates Shekhar Bhor and Sandeep Mahadkar (right) in his hotel room recently. |
It is considered one of the masterstrokes in Indian cricket Sourav Ganguly's decision to convert Virender Sehwag from a middle-order batsman to opener changed his career and the Indian team's fortunes.
The suggestion to try out Sehwag as opener first came from pacer Zaheer Khan during the Coca-Cola Cup triangular one-day tournament in Sri Lanka, 2001.
Sehwag revealed this to Zaheer Khan's National Cricket Club (NCC) teammates in Mumbai's recently. Sandeep Mahadkar, who was the India spearhead's first captain at NCC, along with senior player Shekhar Bhor and Sameer Apte were told about their star teammate's contribution by Sehwag when they met him along with Zaheer on the eve of the third Test which concluded in India's favour yesterday.
"Sehwag told us that it was the turning point of his career and that he had never opened even in local cricket before," said Mahadkar, the NCC off-spinner.
Speaking to MiD DAY yesterday, Sehwag said he was told about his promotion by Ganguly. "Sachin was not part of that series and they tried various openers Yuvraj Singh, Amay Khurasia but nothing worked and after that, they gave me a chance. Ganguly told me later that it was Zaheer who had suggested that I should be tried as opener. I didn't know about it," said Sehwag.
Being a pace bowler, it would have been easy for Zaheer to spot Sehwag's brilliance against the new ball while bowling to him in the nets. And, when the Indian team was struggling to find a suitable opener for their Test team, Sehwag's success as an opener in the one-day arena provided the team management a good reason to open with him during the 2002 series in England. Skipper Ganguly and coach John Wright asked Sehwag to try it out.u00a0 The rest is history.
"In Test cricket, I owe my success to Ganguly and (former coach) Wright, who backed me as an opener. They supported me fully and told me if I fail as an opener, they would put me back in the middle-order," Sehwag added.
The Delhi dasher developed such a liking for the new ball that he's putting up a show of power-hitting never seen before in international cricket.
Those present at the Brabourne Stadium during India's innings will vouch for it. Sehwag produced a breathtaking display of hitting during his epic 293-run effort to lift India to a comprehensive 2-0 series win.
Talking about their meeting with Sehwag, Mahadkar said: "Before any international match in Mumbai, we go and meet Zaheer. In spite of all his success, he has remained the same and makes time for us. There was so much security this time, but he called us to the team hotel and also took us to meet Sehwag.
"We wished Sehwag all the best for a big score in this game. We also asked Zaheer to gift us a special performance. We are very happy that both wishes came true Sehwag scored 293 and Zaheer got a fifer."
