Appreciating the explosive battling style of retired opening partner Virender Sehwag, left-handed batsman Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday said that there cannot be any other Sehwag and the Indian team will surely miss him.
“The kind of impact that Sehwag had on the Indian team is irreplaceable. There cannot be any other Sehwag. The record that he has and the way with which he had helped India to win so many matches, the kind of performance that he had displayed, not only in India but overseas, I am sure there cannot be any replacement for him,” Gambhir told ANI.
“I am sure not only me, but the whole Indian team would miss him. He had a very attacking mindset. The approach with which he started his career, he ended with that only. It shows how much mental strength he possessed. I have seen many players who started their careers with a different batting style and ended with a different one. But there was only one Sehwag who kept his batting style unchanged throughout his career. The way he batted in his first test match, he batted the same in his 104th test also,” he added.
The ‘Multan Ka Sultan’, officially announced his retirement from international cricket, on Tuesday and said that making his Test debut against South Africa was the most memorable moment of his career.
Considered as one of India’s greatest opening batsmen, the ‘Nawab of Najafgarh’ scored 8,586 runs at an average of 49.34 in 104 Tests and has amassed 8,273 runs at an average of 35.05 in 251 ODIs.
The 37-year-old made his Test debut against South Africa in 2001 and ODI debut against Pakistan in 1999.
He holds multiple records, including the highest score made by an India n in Test cricket (319) and the fastest triple century in the history of international cricket (he scored 300 in 278 balls).
Sehwag was also part of the victorious squad in the 2007 World Twenty20 and Cricket World Cup in 2011.