Viru thanks Ganguly, Dravid, Kumble at BCCI felicitation

Retiring legend Virender Sehwag on Thursday thanked his former India captains Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble along with Sachin Tendulkar for their guidance during his illustrious international career.

The BCCI on Thursday formally felicitated Sehwag before the start of the fourth Test match against South Africa with secretary Anurag Thakur presenting him with a glittering trophy for his achievements.

Sehwag was accompanied by his mother Krishna Sehwag, wife Aarti and two sons Aryavir and Vedant during the short ceremony.

In his brief farewell speech, Sehwag thanked everyone from BCCI to DDCA to his first coach AN Sharma and Satish Sharma, who first picked him for Delhi U-19s.

“I want to thank my father for allowing me to play the game of cricket and give me freedom to do whatever I wanted to. All my coaches, especially A.N. Sharma for making me the cricketer I am,” the 37 year old said.

He also had words of gratitude for his close friends, including Delhi U-19 coach Raju Sharma.

When it came to the captains, 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.”

There was no mention of Dhoni, though, under whom he played for the national team for almost six years.

Sehwag also mentioned about the contribution of the physios and trainers during his 14-year long career.

In the end, he thanked the fans for “making him Sehwag”.

“I would like to thank all my fans for standing by me in my good and bad times,” he said.

While DDCA is yet to name a stand or gallery, the BCCI has temporarily named the far-end stand at the Ambedkar Stadium end as “Viru 319” after the batsman’s highest Test score.

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Sachin was clearly ahead of his time but did not grow as I wanted him to’

Kapil Dev is pained that his compliment to Sachin Tendulkar has been misinterpreted and led to widespread criticism.

He recalled the “Kapil can’t get another Test fifty” remark from Sunil Gavaskar. “It was for my good. He was challenging me to raise my game. I got a fifty in the next match (a sterling 79-ball 69 in his next innings at Bombay against Pakistan) and one more two Tests later (a 98-ball 84 and 11 wickets as India beat Pakistan at Chennai too).

“Gavaskar used to say that I should have scored 5000 runs more than what I did. In hindsight, I agree I should have taken my batting seriously. But importantly, I didn’t take Gavaskar’s remark in the wrong sense. He challenged me and I accepted it.”

“Needless is the word. Sachin, I’ve always said, was a fabulous cricketer and more talented than Viv (Richards). He had the calibre to be as ruthless, or more, but did not deliver as much as I had expected. He got 100 international 100s but his potential was greater.”

“How else could I have described him? He was an underachiever and that I maintain was a compliment. He could have done better. Am I wrong?”

Digging into the past, Kapil recalled, “He was just about making waves and I was up against him. He drilled me over mid-off for a six. I was stunned. He hit me as if I was an off-spinner and I marvelled at his talent.

“Sachin was clearly ahead of his time but he did not grow as I wanted him to grow. I loved the Sachin of Sharjah 1998 when he clubbed the Australians. His dominance was complete and stroke-play so imperious. He made good bowlers look ordinary, could hit boundaries at will but that Sachin was lost somewhere as his career progressed.”

Praise for Mumbai cricket

As for the remark on Mumbai cricket and cricketers, Kapil explained, “I would be silly if I doubted their caliber. Has Bombay not won 40 Ranji Trophy titles and 15 in a row? What an awesome record!

Players from outside Bombay learnt to be professional from them.

The Bombay batsmen believe in playing correct cricket — technically supreme, no reverse sweeps or upper cuts. But the game has changed. You have to be ruthless now.

With the exception of Sandeep Patil and to some extent Vinod Kambli, Mumbai has not produced ruthless cricketers. Now we have Ajinkya (Rahane) and Rohit (Sharma) batting differently, wanting to dominate.”

Elaborating on his views on Mumbai cricket, “I respect Mumbai cricket and cricketers. They laid the base for the growth of Indian cricket but the game has changed and it is time we all realized and accepted it.

“We also need to rise above petty regionalism. Mumbai is mine too. We would like to see Mumbai cricket and cricketers to move on. It is not about Mumbai, Haryana or Delhi.. It is about Indian cricket... Also, (Ajit) Wadekar Sir should please understand that I am a true Indian and Mumbai is part of us. I am a Bombaywalah too.”

Remembering an anecdote with noted lyricist Javed Akhtar, he said, “I told him once I would have been more successful if I had worked harder because I got so much affection from my countrymen. He said an 80-year-old man could have lived to be 100 had he cared more for his body.”

“There comes a time when one says enough is enough. In Sachin’s case it was never enough.”

“He was worth much more and that is what I meant.”

“Does he not call me Paaji? Can an elder brother not say what he feels about his younger brother? I did precisely that.”

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Pain of not getting farewell game shall always remain: Sehwag

Virender Sehwag, who has recently called time on his glorious international cricket career, says the sadness of being “deprived of a farewell game shall always remain” in his mind.

“Had the selectors told me that they were going to drop me, I could have requested them to allow me to play my last Test in Delhi and then announce my retirement, but they did not give me that opportunity.

“A sort of sadness shall always remain in my mind that I was not allowed to retire while playing, but anyway, it’s all a part of life for a sportsman, who, while playing, never realizes when he should retire, but he starts thinking about it when he is dropped,” Sehwag said.

The explosive batsman made 23 Test centuries and 15 tons in ODIs.

“I would like to ask: Should not a player who has played 12 to 13 years for his country, deserves a farewell match?”

On organizers planning to give him a farewell during the forthcoming Test in Delhi between India and South Africa starting December 3, Sehwag said: “If that is so, it will be good. If BCCI cannot organised, at least DDCA should do. It’s not a question of me alone, every player who retires should get a farewell.”

The former opener said there should be fixed criteria for selection of players, whether senior or junior.

“If a player fails to perform in four or five consecutive matches, he should be dropped irrespective of whether he is a senior or a junior player,” he said.

Sehwag recounted an incident involving Australian player Michael Clarke.

“I and Sachin were batting in Australia. Michael Clarke had been inducted fresh. He was frequently telling Sachin ‘you’re too old, you can’t field, you can’t do this, you can’t do that’ I went up to Clarke and asked his age. He said, 23. I told him Tendulkar has made more centuries than your age”.

The 37-year-old further said, “Had India played two more Test series against Pakistan, I could have completed 10,000 Test runs. I have made 8,586 Test runs. We stopped playing home series or away series against Pakistan since 2006. If you see my batting averages particularly against Pakistan, you will find my batting averages between 90 and 100.”

Asked why he had been prolific in his performances particularly against Pakistan, Sehwag said, “It’s because of rivalry between both countries in sports. The grounds are always full, and the expectations among fans are high. This is because Pakistan was earlier a part of undivided India, that’s why the rivalry is big and everybody becomes excited.”

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Sachin didn’t do justice to his talent: Kapil Dev

Former India captain Kapil Dev says the iconic Sachin Tendulkar “did not know how to make double hundreds, triple hundreds and 400 though he had the ability” to scale such peaks and was “stuck in the Mumbai school of cricket”.

“Don’t get me wrong, but I think Sachin didn’t do justice to his talent. I always thought he could have done much more than what he did,” Dev was quoted as saying by the ‘Khaleej Times’.

“He (Sachin) got stuck with Bombay cricket. He didn’t apply himself to the ruthless international cricket. I think he should have spent more time with Vivian Richards than some of the Bombay guys who played just neat and straight cricket.

“Sachin was a much better cricketer but somewhere along the line he just knew how to score hundreds. He didn’t know how to make it a double hundred, or a triple or even 400s,” added the 1983 World Cup winning India captain.

The great all-rounder, under whose captaincy India won its maiden World Cup in 1983, said he would have advised Tendulkar to play like Virender Sehwag.

“He (Sachin) had the ability. He was technically sound but I felt he was there to get his hundred and that’s it.

Unlike Richards, Sachin wasn’t ruthless, he was more of a perfect, or rather correct cricketer. Had I spent more time with him I would have told him ‘go enjoy yourself, play like Virender Sehwag’. You will be a much better cricketer.”

The 56-year-old Dev made these remarks before a select crowd at the Cove Beach Club at Jumeirah Hotel in Dubai alongside three other cricketing icons — Shane Warne, Wasim Akram and Ian Botham.

Spin legend Warne remarked that Tendulkar was special.

“He is a wonderful player and in my 20-odd years of playing, he is the best batsman that I played against. The expectations he was under and the skill he had against fast and spin. The way he judged the balls. He was great for the game of cricket and he was a fantastic and wonderful player.

He dominated bowlers in the mid-90s and he was just outstanding against any bowler. He also played exceptionally well against Australia,” said Warne.

“I now see Sachin’s different side as I am now doing business with him. He is a wonderful friend,” he added.

Pace bowling great Akram regretted for having played much against Tendulkar.

“One of the regrets Waqar Younis and I had as a bowler is that we never played Test cricket against Tendulkar for nearly 10 years,” he said.

“We played against Sachin when he made his debut in 1989 when he was 16 and then, we played Tests against Sachin in 1999 in India. As Warne said, he was the best in the game and 100 international hundreds speaks volumes of his talent.”

When the former greats were asked to name the best they had played against, Kapil said: “I think Viv in my time is the best I have seen. More than his cricket, it was the way he played the game and his attitude. I loved to take his wicket all the time.”

Botham echoed similar sentiments: “Viv Richards is certainly the best player I have seen in all formats of the game. I don’t think there has been anyone better. I remember in Old Trafford we left him in the raps and Michael Holding came out to bat and 200 runs later, Richards was 189 not out — which was obscene. You bowl him outside the off stump with a packed field, and he will flick you into the grandstand on the leg side. He never read the MCC coaching annual.”

Akram added: “When I started out, it was the great Viv Richards and the Little Master Sunil Gavaskar. I got out him out only once. In the 90s, it was (Brian) Lara and Tendulkar.”

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