Sourav Ganguly has showered brilliant praise on former Indian opener Virender Sehwag. In the view of Ganguly, Sehwag has to be the greatest opener India could ever have in life after Sunil Gavaskar.
Sehwag, who played for the country from 1999 to 2013, was amongst the most fearless cricketers ever to strut onto a field. He had figured in 104 Tests and 251 ODIs, scoring 8586 and 8273 runs respectively; though brief, his T20 career consisted of 19 matches scored at 394 runs. He was also part of the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 Cricket World Cup-winning Indian squads.
Ganguly made the remark in the trailer of “The Greatest Rivalry – India vs Pakistan”, a documentary series about the cricketing rivalry between India and Pakistan. The documentary will be available to stream on Netflix from February 7.
“After Gavaskar, the finest opener is Virender Sehwag,” said Ganguly.
Former Indian opener Sehwag made his ODI debut against arch rivals Pakistan in 1999 and debuted in Test cricket against South Africa in 2001. He is the only Indian to have made two triple centuries in Test matches. He is therefore the fourth batsman to score more than 300 runs in Test matches, others being Don Bradman, Chris Gayle and Brian Lara.
The right-hand batsman also successfully scored a double century in ODIs, smashing 219 against West Indies in 2011.
In Test cricket, he scored 23 centuries and 32 fifties. He was ICC Test Player of the Year, 2010, having amassed 1,282 runs in 10 Tests, including six centuries.
In one-day internationals, Sehwag scored 15 centuries and 38 fifties.
Known as the ‘Nawab of Najafgarh’, Sehwag was an infectious inspiration to bowlers at the dawn of his peak days in a grand fashion, spreading fever with his zeal and signing off the aggressive manner of scoring runs. All in all, he amassed more than 16,000 runs for India across all formats, thus entering the pantheon of Indian cricket.