Former Indian Head Coach John Wright has recently praised the former Indian fearless opening batsman Virender Sehwag.
Virender Sehwag was famous for his fearless batting in any circumstances. He batted so destructively which hugely demolished any bowler’s confidence. Recently, on 29th March, the country remembered Sehwag’s triple-century knock against Pakistan during the 2004 Multan Test. It was the 16th anniversary for Sehwag’s 309 runs knock which was also the first Test triple-century by an Indian batsman. Incidentally, four years later, on the same date, Sehwag broke his record and scored 319 runs against South Africa during Chennai Test.
Talking about Sehwag’s 309 runs knock during the Multan Test, John Wright praised his batting approach during his cricket career.
Wright told Outlook, “I loved Viru’s approach to batting. He was never intimidated by either his opponent or the occasion. To me, Viru was very special, a truly great player who could bring any attack to its knees. He destroyed bowlers.
“It was a superb innings [309 runs, 375 balls, 531 minutes, 39x4s, 6x6s] in every respect, but particularly because it was such an important Test match for us as a team. Our first Test match against Pakistan for many years [first since 1989]. His innings gave us so much confidence and relaxed us all in the dressing room and he just kept going.”
While Sehwag returned to the dressing room in the Multan Test after scoring the incredible triple century, Wright felt that any words wouldn’t do justice to his batting quality.
The former Indian Head Coach added, “I cannot remember what I said to him after his innings. I hope not too much, as words wouldn’t do justice to the quality of his batting.”
John Wright talked about Virender Sehwag’s another impressive batting performance
Talking more about Sehwag’s batting, Wright also mentioned his other famous 195 runs knock against the host Australia in the Melbourne Test in December 2003. During both those innings, Wright was the Head Coach of the Indian national cricket team. Wright claimed that he would never forget Sehwag’s great batting during the 2003 Melbourne Test and 2004 Multan Test.
He added, “This innings, along with the 195 he scored at the MCG against Australia before tea on the first day at Melbourne, I will never forget.”
From 1999 to 2013, Sehwag played 104 Tests, 251 ODIs and 19 T20Is where he scored 8,586 runs (average 49.34), 8,273 runs (average 35.05) and 394 runs (average 21.88).