DELHI: The Board of control for cricket in India (BCCI), has on Thursday felicitated the former dashing Indian opener, Virender Sehwag, ahead of the fourth test between India and South Africa in Feroz Shah kotla at Delhi.
Speaking after the felicitation Sehwag expressed his gratitude to his father, coaches and team-mates for standing by him through out his career.
“I want to thank my father for allowing me to play cricket and giving me the freedom to work for my goal. I sincerely thank all my coaches, especially AN Sharma for making me the player that am today. I want to thank my first captain Ajay Jadeja and other captains Saurav, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid for all their help and trust in my abilities in my hard times”, Sehwag said.
The dashing batsman had also thanked Sachin Tendulkar and his fans for supporting him in the good and bad times of his career.
BCCI secretary, Anurag Thakur, presented Sehwag with a silver plaque commemorating his achievements and contributions to the Indian cricket. The 37 year-old has scored more than 8,000 runs in both Test and ODI formats of cricket, respectively.
The Indian opening batsman was reputed for his aggressive batting approach against bowlers irrespective of the format of the game. Sehwag has scored 23 hundreds and 32 half-centuries in tests, with a highest individual score of 319. In One Day Internationals, the swashbuckling opener had recorded 15 centuries and 38 half-centuries which also included a highest individual score of 219.
The Indian Government has also awarded Sehwag with the ‘Arjuna’ and ‘Padma Sri’ awards in 2002 and 2010 respectively, for his contributions to the Indian cricket.