If there is one man who changed the way test matches are played in India, that will be non other then the master blaster II, Virender Sehwag.

Former Indian opener and regarded as one of the most destructive batsman during his time started his ODI career in 1999 against Pakistan. His test debut came 2 years later when team India visited South Africa in 2001 where he got the chance to bat with his ideal and original master blaster sachin tendulakar, with him he also scored the century in his first test innings against a quality bowling attack.

He started as a middle order batsman but during the tour of England in 2001-02 when team India was battling with their decade old problem of finding a genuine opening pair, Saurav Ganguly then captain of the team experimented with sending Sehwag at the top of the order and the move worked for him. In the first innings as an opener he score eighty odd and provided the much needed momentum to the team. That was just the start and no one had an idea that it is going to change the direction of the Indian cricket.

The decade of 2001-2010 was an important milestone for Indian cricket. A complete new generation of cricket was in the making with the likes of Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif and Mahendra Singh Dhoni but one name which superseded everybody was that of none other than Mr. Destructive “Virender Sehwag“. His enigma was such that on the field that he could change the course of the game within an hour.

He is only second after Legendary Sir Don Bradman to score 2 triple centuries in international cricket. You can imagine his fearless style of playing that when he was on 295 during a test match with Pakistan in Multan he stepped out to Saqlain Mushtaq and hit him for six to complete his first triple hundred and that how the name “Sultan of Multan” is given to him.

His second score of 300 came against South Africa in Chennai. His other memorable innings includes 293 against Srilanka, 195 against Australia in Melbourne and the number goes on. He scored at a strike rate of 82 which is double than most of the Indian players of his time. It was because of his dominating batting only that test matches weren’t boring now and audiences get to see the results which used to be boring draws at one point of time.

He also had a stint in IPL with KXIP (Kings Eleven Punjab) and Delhi Daredevils. In 2015 he last played in IPL and last international presence was in 2013, the same year which saw sachin tendulkar hung his boots.

He is active in commentary box, he keeps rocking the fans with his great sense of humor which he showcase every now and then on twitter. Fans across the globe still love him for what he has given to the cricket and the endless memories.

We at CricketUstaad wish him a very happy birthday and success in whatever he does.

All image source : Google Image
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