Former Team Indiaopener Virender Sehwag has reminisced about an incident related to ex-India coach Greg Chappell. Chappell coached India from 2005 to 2007 and during those years, Chappell’s equation with
senior players was not at all amiable. Sehwag was one of the best openers in international cricket during those times, but his lack of footwork was a boon for bowlers to pick up his wickets. However, despite the lack in his technique, he used to intimidate bowlers with his magnificent batting prowess.
Recently, Sehwag appeared on The Life Savers Show and disclosed an incident when Chappell instructed the opener to move his feet to score runs. However, Sehwag argued with Chappell and refused to follow his advice. Sehwag said that Chappell even intimidated him to drop him from the side. “Greg Chappell’s words once hurt me. I was going through a little rough patch. He said to me, ‘If you don’t move your feet, you won’t score runs.’ I replied, ‘Greg, I’ve scored over 6000 runs with an average of over 50.’ But he said, ‘Doesn’t matter.’ We had a bad argument,” said Sehwag.
Sehwag further revealed that the then-captain Rahul Dravid intervened to control the situation. “Then Rahul Dravid came and stepped in to separate us. Later, when I was going out to bat, Greg said, ‘Make sure you score, or I’ll drop you.’ By the end of the second session, I had scored 184 runs. After that, I told Rahul Dravid, ‘Tell your coach not to come near me," added Sehwag.
Virender Sehwag’s record for India
Virender Sehwag is the sixth-highest run-getter in Tests for India, with 8503 runs in 178 innings of 103 games. He is the only batter to notch up a couple of triple tons for India. In One-Day Internationals (ODI), he is the ninth leading run-scorer with 7995 runs in 235 innings of 241 matches.
Sehwag retired from international cricket in 2015 after serving India for 14 years from 1999 to 2013. During that period, he accumulated 17253 runs with 38 centuries and 72 fifties in 443 innings of 374 games across all formats.
