Virender Sehwag

One of the most destructive batsmen in the world, Virender Sehwag, originally a middle-order batsman, has redefined the role of an opener. With minimal footwork but great hand-eye coordination, Sehwag goes after every delivery that deserves to be hit. Apart from being an attacking batsman, he is a handy off-spinner and is known to use his wiles to both check the flow of runs, and take wickets.

A bowler’s nightmare, Sehwag redefined batting at the top in whites. The Nawab of Najafgarh makes spectators flock to the grounds. Sehwag’s first international ODI was a disaster as he scored just one against Pakistan in April 1999. Thus, almost for the next couple of years, he didn’t get any further opportunities. In just his third ODI in March 2001, Sehwag scored 58 off 54 and took three wickets as well, rounding up to a brilliant man-of-the-match performance by the youngster.

Meanwhile, the explosive right-hander made an excellent impression in Test cricket, when he smashed a scintillating ton under pressure at Bloemfontein, during India's tour of South Africa in the early 2000s.

Initially a middle-order batsman, Sehwag often found it difficult to break into the star-studded Indian batting lineup. It was Sourav Ganguly's masterstroke of sending the Najafgarh swashbuckler up the order as an opener which did the trick for the batter.

The Sultan of Multan has always blasted centuries and made them look like a walk in the park. One of his most memorable triple centuries is definitely the 319 he scored against South Africa in Chennai. That is also the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket. He just took 278 balls to reach 300, making the fastest international triple century as well. He has surpassed the score of 300 twice in his career. His first coming during the Multan Test during India's tour of Pakistan in 2004.

At the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, Sehwag won two Man of the Match awards. However, his performance in the 2003 Cricket World Cup was average, he still continued his decent run in red-ball cricket. Part of the 2011 World Cup-winning squad, Sehwag blasted 175 runs in the opening game of the World Cup against Bangladesh. With Gautam Gambhir, Sehwag formed India’s most prolific opening stand, batting 87 innings together and adding 4,412 runs.

A dashing and aggressive cricketer, Sehwag announced his retirement from all formats of international cricket on 20th October 2015. In the 2021 Road Safety World Series, Sehwag gave his fans something to relive, opening the innings with Sachin, he led the Indian Legends side to comprehensible victory over the Sri Lankan Legends in the finals.