Sehwag Bio

Virender Sehwag was born on 20 October 1978 in Delhi, India. He is currently one of the leading Indian batsmen in the Indian cricket team. He was born into a Jatt family from Haryana, which later settled down in the Najafgarh locality of Delhi. He went to school in Delhi. Sehwag is an occasional right-arm off-spin bowler but an aggressive right-handed opening batsman. He is often known as Viru or the Prince of Najafgarh. He joined the Indian Test cricket team in 2001. Before that, he played his first One Day International in 1999. He performed outstandingly in 2008 and was honoured for it as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World. He holds many records including the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket (319), the fastest triple century, and so on. He has scored more than 300 runs twice in Test cricket. In an ODI in March 2009, Sehwag made the fastest century ever scored by an Indian.
In October 2005, Sehwag became vice-captain
of the Indian team under Rahul Dravid . in 2008, after Anil Kumble’s retirement he was once again appointed as vice captain for the Tests and ODIs. By early 2009, Sehwag was once again one of the best performing batsmen in ODI cricket.

Childhood and Career

Sehwag went to Arora Vidya School in Delhi. He pleaded with his parents to let him play cricket as that was his passion. In the 1997-1998 first class cricket season, Sehwag made his debut by playing for Delhi. In the following season, he was selected to the North Zone cricket team for the Duleep Trophy. He batted very well and was thus included in the under 19 team which toured South Africa. The selectors noted his consistently good performance and he soon became a member of the national team in 2001. Although his international career had started, he carried on playing for Delhi and captained North Zone to victory in 2004-05 and 2005-2006. He also played for Leicestershire in county cricket, but had to pull out due to a back injury. Sehwag showed good batting performance against Australia in Bangalore and helped India to win. He was awarded his first Man of the Match award.

Sehwag had his breakthrough in Sri Lanka in August 2001 when he was promoted to the opening batsman for the tri-series which also included New Zealand. This opportunity arose because Sachin Tendulkar was absent due to a foot injury. He scored a quick century and was awarded Man of the Match. In the in the India-England ODI Series in January 2002 Sehwag was once again the opener. In the test at Kanpur, he scored fast and led India to victory. In the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, he displayed two brilliant knocks and won Man of the Match awards.
In 2002, his centuries helped India defeat West Indies at Rajkot. In March 2009, he scored a fast century against New Zealand in an ODI. India won the series.

Sehwag’s style of play is quite similar to Tendulkar’s. He cuts or drives spinners inside out. Square and upper cuts are his favorite shots. He often strikes the ball in the air and risks dismissals. He is often noted for his attacking aggressive style of batting.