Virender Sehwag, who was known as a swashbuckling batsman, was also very handy with his off-break bowler. He was a partnership-breaker and there were times when he cherished bowling milestones. That once led him to shout at a young Virat Kohli when the latter dropped a sitter off Sehwag’s bowling. Sehwag said that the dropped catch made him even more upset than a missed triple-century.
“I actually felt quite sad when Virat Kohli once dropped a dolly off me at midwicket once. I would have probably gotten to some bowling milestone but he ended up putting it down. I got so angry, probably far more than when I missed a triple century. I told him, ‘Come on man, you should have caught that’,” Sehwag said while chatting with told YouTuber Ranveer Allahabadia on his channel BeerBiceps.
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Talking at length about his bowling feats, Sehwag said, “I did get some big batters out with my bowling. Ponting, Hayden, Hussey, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Dilshan, Lara – some top batters. I once dismissed Gilchrist round his legs in Perth. The big ones did fall to me sometimes.”
Sehwag has taken 40 wickets in 104 Tests, including a fifer – 5/104 against Australia in Delhi in 2008. In ODIs, his wicket count is 96 in 251 matches between 1999 and 2013, with a career-best figure of 4/6 against Bangladesh in Dambulla in 2010. Talking about missing a triple century, Sehwag missed one by a mere seven runs in 2009 when he was out for 293 in a Test against Sri Lanka.
Sehwag mentioned that he never imagined Kohli would rise to such great heights as a player and batsman, though he never doubted his talent.
“No one ever doubted his talent but I didn’t believe that Kohli would reach the heights he has now. Others may have felt that way but I didn’t. Even when he smashed (Lasith) Malinga in that match for fours – I think we needed some 280 inside 40 overs – he scored a wonderful century. So we knew there was no lack of talent and that he will score runs but didn’t know that he will reach such legendary status and hit 70-75 centuries or score 25,000 runs.
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“I was doubtful about that because it’s one thing to have talent but how long can you convert it into performances? Will he be this mentally strong? Today, he has proven everyone including me wrong. The greatness Kohli has reached today is unbelievable,” Sehwag said.
Sehwag had spoken about watching Kohli’s talent from close quarters in an earlier interview with Cricbuzz. “We were playing for Delhi in a T20 tournament. Kohli played a shot that went through long-on and long-off, and none of the fielders could stop it. It was then when I realised that this guy has a special talent),” Sehwag said.
The duo won the ICC World Cup together in 2011 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
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