It is hard to replace a player of flair and instinct like Virender Sehwag. He may have shifted base to Haryana but there could be no better venue to felicitate the legend whose cricketing journey began at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.
One of the greatest cricketers India has produced, Sehwag, who retired from international cricket on October 20, was felicitated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) before the start of the fourth and last Test match against South Africa.
The Delhi and District Cricket Association ( DDCA) might not have got enough time to arrange for a lavish ceremony but it did its bit to honour the man who brought laurels to his home association.
In a good gesture, DDCA named two stands at the bowling ends on Sehwag’s two triple centuries — Viru 319 end and Viru 309 end — and by putting up a hoarding which stated “Thank You Viru.”
The 37-year-old, clad in a blue blazer, was accompanied by his mother Krishna, wife Aarti and sons Aryaveer and Vedant, thanked his coaches, AN Sharma and Satish Sharma who first picked him up for Delhi under-19 team. He also mentioned his friends including Delhi under-19 coach Raju Sharma .
“I want to thank my father for allowing me to play the game of cricket and gave me freedom to do whatever I wanted to. All my coaches, especially AN Sharma for making me the cricketer I am,” said Sehwag during the short ceremony which was attended by BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur. Thakur presented him with a trophy with his caricature on top.
Both the Indian and South African teams were present during the ceremony and Sehwag shook hands with each player thanking them for their presence.
The Nawab of Najafgarh later thanked his captains starting from Ajay Jadeja. However, he didn’t name Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “I want to thank my first captain Ajay Jadeja and other captains Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble. I also want to thank Sachin Tendulkar.”
The small gathering gave the loudest possible applause as he thanked the fans for “making him Sehwag”.
Sehwag owns over 8,000 runs each in Tests and ODIs and is one of only four batsmen in the world to have two scores in excess of 300.