Virender Sehwag was one of the major cricketers in the dressing room while Greg Chappell, the Indian team’s head coach, was in turmoil. Chappell is undoubtedly the most controversial head coach the Indian team has had, and he became well-known for chopping and changing line-ups and playing combinations.
Sehwag recently went back in time to expose one of the heated occasions between him and his former mentor. The Delhi batter recounted how Chappell was going to remove him for failing to obey the latter’s unambiguous instructions. Chappell even threatened Sehwag with his spot in the team if his counsel was not followed if the opening did not score runs. Rahul Dravid also intervened to prevent the argument from continuing.
“Greg Chappell’s words once hurt me. I was going through a little rough patch. He said to me, ‘If you don’t move your feet, you won’t score runs.’ I replied, ‘Greg, I’ve scored over 6000 runs with an average of over 50.’ But he said, ‘Doesn’t matter.’ We had a bad argument. Then Rahul Dravid came and stepped in to separate us. Later, when I was going out to bat, Greg said, ‘Make sure you score, or I’ll drop you.’ By the end of the second session, I had scored 184 runs. After that, I told Rahul Dravid, ‘Tell your coach not to come near me,” Sehwag said via The Life Savers Show.
Sehwag is arguably the most successful opener India have had in their rich Test cricket history.
With 8586 runs in just 104 Test matches, Sehwag averages a staggering 49.34 in the format. He also scored 23 centuries and 32 half-centuries to put up a show with the bat and had the ability to hit the ball hard right from the word ‘go’. He also has a couple of triple centuries to his name to go with four double hundreds as well, the most for an Indian batter.
Furthermore, he currently enjoys his stints as commentator across the year during key tournaments and cricket games all around the world. The 46-year-old has also served in a coaching position himself, when he was with Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in the Indian Premier League in the 2016 and 2017 edition, when Glenn Maxwell and Ravichandran Ashwin were the captains of the respective seasons.
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