Sachin Tendulkar stopped me from retiring after MS Dhoni dropped me from the squad in 2008 : Virender Sehwag
Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag has said that he wanted to retire after MS Dhoni dropped him from the Indian team in 2008.
Former Indian opening batsman Virender Sehwag is always known for his aggressive approach with the bat and he has played various important knocks for the Indian cricket team at the international level.
During his career, Sehwag scored 8586 Test and 8273 ODI runs with a total of 38 centuries in these formats of the game.
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In an interaction with Cricbuzz, Sehwag revealed he wanted to retire from the ODIs during the Australia tour in 2008 as he was dropped for a few games by then skipper MS Dhoni. But then there was a change of mind as he continued to play on and the former opener credited Sachin Tendulkar for changing his mind.
“In 2008 when we were in Australia, this question (of retirement) came to my mind. I made a comeback in the Test series, and scored a 150. In the ODIs, I couldn’t score that much in three-four attempts. So MS Dhoni dropped me from the playing XI then the thought of quitting ODI cricket came to my mind. I thought I will continue playing only Test cricket,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz show ‘Match Party.’
“Sachin Tendulkar stopped me at that time. He said ‘this is a bad phase of your life. Just wait, go back home after this tour, think hard and then decide what to do next. Luckily I didn’t announce my retirement at that time,” he added.
Sehwag made a solid comeback and was a key member of the 2011 World Cup-winning side. He became an irregular member of the team in 2012 and played his final ODI in January 2013.