Retired Indian legend Virender Sehwag was felicitated by the BCCI on Thursday, ahead of the 4th Test about to be played at the veteran’s home ground – Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. The dashing opener thanked his former captains Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and the Little Master, Sachin Tendulkar.
BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur presented Sehwag, the only Indian having two triple hundred individual scores, with a glittering trophy for his personal achievements and his contribution towards Indian cricket.
Accompanied by his wife, mother and two sons, the aggressive Test player gave a brief farewell speech while his felicitation ceremony was in progress. He thanked everyone from the BCCI to DDCA, to his first coach AN Sharma and Satish Sharma, who were responsible for his selection in Delhi Under-19’s. He also mentioned some close friends helped him during his Ranji days including Delhi Under-19 coach Raju Sharma.
“I want to thank my father for allowing me to play the game of cricket and give me the freedom to do whatever I wanted to. All my coaches, especially AN Sharma for making me the cricketer I am,” the 37-year-old said.
Indian teammates and his former captains were in line next. Sehwag said: “I want to thank my first captain Ajay Jadeja and other captains Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble. I want to thank Sachin Tendulkar.” While mentioning captains, Virender Sehwag, however, did not mention M.S. Dhoni’s name, under whom he and India won the ever famous 2007 World T20 championship and the historic 2011 Cricket World Cup after a long gap of 28 years.
Not forgetting the people responsible for his fitness throughout his long and illustrious career, he thanked his physios and trainers for helping him stay out of injuries for the maximum time possible during the 14 years.
He kept his fans were kept for the end. “I would like to thank all my fans for standing by me in my good and bad times,” he said and finally concluded by thanking them for “making him Sehwag”.
Though no permanent stand has been named under Sehwag by the DDCA, BCCI temporarily named the far-end of the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium as “Viru 319”, in an honour of his highest knock in Test cricket.