Virender Sehwag Retires From International Cricket and IPL

Gill Saab

Yaar Malang
India batsman Virender Sehwag has formally retired from international cricket. On Tuesday, his 37th birthday, Sehwag made the announcement via Twitter, with a crisp message that said he would no longer play the IPL either.

On Monday, Sehwag had revealed he would be participating in the Masters Champions League, a UAE-based Twenty20 tournament that requires its participants to have retired from all international formats, and said a formal retirement announcement would follow soon. He indicated that he would continue playing for Haryana till the end of the Ranji Trophy season.

"God has been kind and I have done what I wanted to do - on the field and in my life and I had decided sometime back that I will retire on my 37th birthday," Sehwag said in a statement. "So, while I spend the day with my family, I hereby announce my retirement from all forms of international cricket and the Indian Premier League.

"Cricket has been my life and continues to be so. Playing for India was a memorable journey and I tried to make it more memorable for my team-mates and for the Indian cricket fans. I believe I was reasonably successful in doing so. For that, I wish to thank all my teammates over the years - some of the greatest players of the game. I would like to thank all my captains, who believed in me and backed me to the hilt. I also thank our greatest partner, the Indian cricket fan for all the love, support and the memories.

"I also want to thank everyone for all the cricketing advice given to me over the years and apologise for not accepting most of it! I had a reason for not following it: I did it my way!"

Sehwag is widely considered one of India's greatest opening batsmen, and he revolutionised the art of batting against the new ball in Test cricket with his aggressive approach, scoring at a strike rate of over 80 in the longest format. He has been out of India's plans for over two years, having last played for the national side in the Hyderabad Test against Australia in March 2013.

Sehwag played 104 Tests, 251 ODIs and 19 T20Is, scoring over 17,000 international runs and picking up 136 wickets with his offspin. His greatest moments came in Test cricket, where he made 23 hundreds including the only two triple-centuries by an Indian batsman, while his ODI achievements included the format's second double-hundred. He was part of India's victorious campaigns at the 2007 World T20 and the 2011 World Cup.
 

[JUGRAJ SINGH]

Prime VIP
Staff member
Virender Sehwag, on Tuesday (October 20), made public his decision to retire from all forms of international cricket as well as from the Indian Premier League (IPL). The 36-year-old brings down the curtains on a glorious international career that spanned 16 years and which saw him aggregate 17,253 runs across all formats. The announcement comes in the aftermath of his decision to participate in the Masters Champions League (MCL), a franchise-based T20 tournament for retired international cricketers.

Speculations surrounding Sehwag's imminent retirement were rife on Monday after he was unveiled by MCL's organizers during the league's opening ceremony. But the Delhi batsman denied reports of him already having made his announcement, stating that he would do so once he returned to India.

Sehwag, however, has made it clear that he would continue to ply his trade in domestic cricket. Earlier this year, he ended a 17-year-old association with the Delhi cricket and shifted allegiance to neighbouring Haryana, whom he leads in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season.

With 8586 runs from 104 Test matches, Sehwag is fifth in India's list of top run-getters. In One-Day Internationals, he scored 8273 runs, with 15 centuries at 35.05. In 19 Twenty20 Internationals, the right-hander made 394 runs. He was part of India's World Cup winning sides of 2007 (T20I) and 2011 (ODI) and was a vital cog in India's rise to the top of the Test rankings chart.

Across eight seasons of IPL, Sehwag represented the Delhi Daredevils (2008-13) and Kings XI Punjab (2014-15) and scored 2728 runs from 104 games, including two hundreds and 16 fifties.

But it was in Tests that Sehwag went on to establish himself as one of the greats of the game. His strike-rate of 82.33 is the best for any batsman to aggregate over 2000 runs. He remains the only Indian batsman to have recorded a triple century, having done so twice against Pakistan (309 in Multan) and South Africa (319 in Chennai).

To paraphrase Mark Twain, the report of my retirement yesterday was exaggerated! However, I have always done what I felt was right and not what conformists thought to be right. God has been kind and I have done what I wanted to do - on the field and in my life. And I had decided some time back that I will retire on my 37th birthday. So today, while I spend my day with my family, I hereby announce my retirement from all forms of International Cricket and from the Indian Premier League.

Cricket has been my life and continues to be so. Playing for India was a memorable journey and I tried to make it more memorable for my team mates and the Indian cricket fans. I believe that I was reasonably successful in doing so. For that, I wish to thank all my team mates over the years - some of the greatest players of the game. I would like to thank all my captains who believed in me and backed me to the hilt. I also thank our greatest partner, the Indian cricket fan, for all the love, support and memories.

I have also played against a lot of great players and it was an absolute pleasure and honour to do so. It was possibly the greatest motivation there was to play to the best of my ability. I have lived my dream and played at the finest of cricket grounds across the globe and I want to thank the groundsmen, clubs, associations and everyone who painstakingly prepare the arena for our performances.

I miss my father today, he was there when the journey started and I wish he could have been there today as well but I know I made him proud and wherever he is today, he is watching me with pride. I want to thank my coach, Mr. A.N. Sharma sir, who was possibly the only coach who could have groomed me into the player that I became. I would probably have struggled to play for my school under any other coach. My mother, my wife Aarti and my children Aaryavir and Vedant are my biggest strength and their presence in my life keeps my mind without fear and head held high.

I would like to thank the BCCI for all its support over the years. The work that the BCCI does at such a scale is phenomenal and it has had some fine administrators over the years who have led the Board in developing the game, appreciating the contribution of players and have brought a lot of benefit to the players.

I would also like to thank the Delhi and District Cricket Association and particularly Mr. Arun Jaitley who always supported me and sought our feedback and implemented what the players wanted and his presence ensured that I always had someone to rely upon personally and for the furtherance of the games best interest in Delhi.

I would like to thank everyone at the Haryana Cricket Association who have welcomed me with so much love and affection and it is really exciting to work with some really talented youngsters. I would especially like to thank Anirudh Chaudhary and Ranbir Singh Mahendra, who has always had words of motivation for me during the toughest of times and I have felt safe in the knowledge that I can always turn to him for well considered advice which I value immensely.

I would also like to thank the Delhi Daredevils and the Kings XI Punjab, the franchisees that I represented, for believing in me and letting me be a part of them. I always gave my best for my team and consider myself fortunate to play with some brilliant players in the IPL.

I would also like to thank the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC). Very little is known about the effort they put in to promote sportsmen and sportswomen across various disciplines. ONGC gave me the security to pursue my game and the organization will always have a special place in my heart.

I must also add that I have enjoyed every Press conference and every interaction with the members of the media through out my international career and the presence of Indian media on foreign tours has left some very pleasant memories that I shall always cherish.

I want to thank all my sponsors for believing in me and all the bat manufacturers that have been associated with me over the years for providing me the willow that I love.

I want to tell everyone at the Sehwag International School, Jhajjar that I now hope to have a higher frequency of visits to the campus to be with you all.

I also want to thank everyone for all the cricketing advice given to me over the years and I apologise for not accepting most of it! I had a reason for not following it; I did it my way!

Virender Sehwag
 

Ginny

VIP
Respect :salut

Jad sachin te shewah opening karde c sometimes pata e ni c lagda hunda short kine maari

The man who changes the meaning of test cricket
 

KARAN

Prime VIP
Te main umeed layi betha c ki cheti hi kite sehwag di batting vekhange hun.
All tym fvrt. Ehde out hon to baad match dekhna bnd kr denda c. Fer jdo yuvraj aunda c ta dekhda c. Grt man
 

avi-jaat

Elite
बङा दुःख हुआ दोस्तों आज हमारे जाट समाज के लाल ने क्रिकेट से अलविदा कह दिया!
आगे से इंडिया का कोई मैच नहीं देखुगा
सहवाग जी के उज्जवल भविष्य की शुभकामनाए
चयनकर्ताओ ने हमेशा ही सहवाग को गिराने का पर्यास किया और वे आज सफल हो गए!
लेकिन भविष्य में उनको नये सहवाग के लिए तरशना पङेगा
 
Top