Vrender Sewhag’s impact at the top of the order for India remains unparalleled and he has always credited Sourav Ganguly for turning his career around by asking him to open the batting for India.
Sourav Ganguly decided to drop himself down the order and made Sehwag open with Sachin Tendulkar in one-day cricket but it was the decision to promote him up the order in Test cricket which surprised many.
Sehwag himself was not sure if he had the game to succeed at the top but Ganguly knew what he was doing and the move turned out to be a masterstroke.
Sehwag retired from the sport with over 7000 runs in Tests as opener at an average of 49.56 with 19 hundreds, 25 fifties and two triple centuries.
“Sehwag was the biggest match-winner in that generation a as an opener. I had my own belief. I told him listen ‘Nobody comes with a batting position. It’s how you adjust’. The best players are made when they come out of their comfort zone.
“If I had batted at No. 4 or No. 5 in one-day cricket, I would have been half the player. The same with Sachin, he would have scored half the runs he scored if he had batted in the middle. I said ‘just get out of this comfort zone and go and play’.
“You just have to see the new ball. 10 overs and then it’s an old ball. The shine goes off but that’s the hard bit. But you’re good enough to do the hard bit’,” Ganguly said on the fifth episode on India Today Inspiration.
But what was even more surprising that despite scoring 84 and 106 in his first two Tests as opener in England. But Ganguly stuck with his decision and the rest is history.
“He was insecure at that age. He asked me, `What happens if I fail?’. I said ‘Come and bat at No. 6’. You’re doing something for the team.
“He was not getting a place at No. 6 because Dravid was No. 3, Sachin was No. 4, Ganguly was No. 5 and VVS was No. 6. I said ‘where do you play? You can’t sit on the bench’.
“He went to England and opened in the Test match and got a 90 in the 1st Test at Lord’s on a green minefield. Next Test, he got another hundred and this was on even a greener pitch. And I said, once you get past that, there is no stopping.
“Even then he said ‘I think I should bat in the middle order’. I said ‘you’re stupid. You don’t even think about it. You will not be half the player if you go and bat at No. 6’,” Ganguly revealed.
Overall, Sehwag scored 8586 runs from 104 Tests at 49.34 with 23 hundreds and 32 half-centuries. He played 251 ODIs and 19 T20Is in which he amassed 8273 and 394 runs respectively, with 15 hundreds in ODIs.
“He was special, one of the best. India rates Sunil Gavaskar as the best opening batsman, very rightly. This man was not far behind. They played differently. One fellow believed in letting the ball go outside the off-stump and making it old. The other one believed in hitting the ball and making it old. But the impact was remarkable,” Ganguly said.
