Virender Sehwag has announced his retirement from international cricket, a day before his 37th birthday, according to multiple reports. India's former opening batsman who currently plays Ranji Trophy for Haryana hasn't appeared for India in more than two-and-a-half years.There's been no official confirmation from his Twitter handle or any other formal sources.
Last week, Sehwag's Indian teammate Zaheer Khan announced his retirement from international cricket. Sehwag was part of the 2011 World Cup winning squad and has several cricket records to his name.
This brings closes a remarkable career in which he scored 17,253 international runs across formats. Sehwag is the only Indian batsman to score a triple-century in Tests, and he did it twice.
With 8586 runs from 104 Test matches, Sehwag stands at fifth in India's all-time list. In ODIs, he scored 8273 runs, with 15 centuries including the second-highest individual score of 219. In 19 Twenty20 internationals, the right-hander made 394 runs. Aside from all those runs, Sehwag took 40 wickets in Tests and 96 in ODIs.
Though he made his ODI debut in 1999 and was initially seen as a limited-overs player, Sehwag's biggest contribution was changing the way opening batsman approached Test cricket. A middle-order batsman from his Delhi days, Sehwag made his name opening for India in Test cricket after the former coach John Wright and Sourav Ganguly took a gamble on him during the Lord's Test of 2002. Sehwag had debuted in Tests at No 6 the year before, scoring a glittering century against South Africa, and was a reluctant candidate to move up the order. But with a punchy innings of 84 in his first innings as opener, his role was confirmed.
Sehwag went on to revolutionise the opener's approach, and his strike-rate of 82.23 is the best for any batsman to aggregate over 2000 runs. The 2003-04 season was a breakthrough one for him, with 1040 run in nine Tests including 195 on day one of the MCG Test and India's first triple century, a 375-ball 309 against Pakistan at Multan.
Among his other Test career highlights are match-winning centuries in Mumbai (twice), Galle, Kanpur, Kolkata, Colombo and Ahmedabad and, famously, an attacking 68-ball 83 on the fourth evening of the Chennai Test in December 2008 that propelled India towards victory on the final day. One of this most unique innings came at Adelaide earlier that year, in his comeback series, when he produced a patient 151 in the second innings to secure a draw.
Sehwag was a part of the Indian team that reached the final of the 2003 ICC World Cup and lifted the 2011 edition. In Twenty20 internationals, he was a member of the side that lifted the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in 2007. He occasionally captained India, in 12 ODIs scattered between 2003 and 2012 and four Tests from 2005 to 2012. He led India in their maiden T20I too, at Johannesburg in 2006.
His last Test was in March 2013 against Australia in Hyderabad and his last ODI came against Pakistan in January 2013. He lost his place in the T20 team in 2012.
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Last week, Sehwag's Indian teammate Zaheer Khan announced his retirement from international cricket. Sehwag was part of the 2011 World Cup winning squad and has several cricket records to his name.
This brings closes a remarkable career in which he scored 17,253 international runs across formats. Sehwag is the only Indian batsman to score a triple-century in Tests, and he did it twice.
With 8586 runs from 104 Test matches, Sehwag stands at fifth in India's all-time list. In ODIs, he scored 8273 runs, with 15 centuries including the second-highest individual score of 219. In 19 Twenty20 internationals, the right-hander made 394 runs. Aside from all those runs, Sehwag took 40 wickets in Tests and 96 in ODIs.
Though he made his ODI debut in 1999 and was initially seen as a limited-overs player, Sehwag's biggest contribution was changing the way opening batsman approached Test cricket. A middle-order batsman from his Delhi days, Sehwag made his name opening for India in Test cricket after the former coach John Wright and Sourav Ganguly took a gamble on him during the Lord's Test of 2002. Sehwag had debuted in Tests at No 6 the year before, scoring a glittering century against South Africa, and was a reluctant candidate to move up the order. But with a punchy innings of 84 in his first innings as opener, his role was confirmed.
Sehwag went on to revolutionise the opener's approach, and his strike-rate of 82.23 is the best for any batsman to aggregate over 2000 runs. The 2003-04 season was a breakthrough one for him, with 1040 run in nine Tests including 195 on day one of the MCG Test and India's first triple century, a 375-ball 309 against Pakistan at Multan.
Among his other Test career highlights are match-winning centuries in Mumbai (twice), Galle, Kanpur, Kolkata, Colombo and Ahmedabad and, famously, an attacking 68-ball 83 on the fourth evening of the Chennai Test in December 2008 that propelled India towards victory on the final day. One of this most unique innings came at Adelaide earlier that year, in his comeback series, when he produced a patient 151 in the second innings to secure a draw.
Sehwag was a part of the Indian team that reached the final of the 2003 ICC World Cup and lifted the 2011 edition. In Twenty20 internationals, he was a member of the side that lifted the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in 2007. He occasionally captained India, in 12 ODIs scattered between 2003 and 2012 and four Tests from 2005 to 2012. He led India in their maiden T20I too, at Johannesburg in 2006.
His last Test was in March 2013 against Australia in Hyderabad and his last ODI came against Pakistan in January 2013. He lost his place in the T20 team in 2012.
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