Virender Sehwag (born 20 October 1978, in Delhi) also known as "Viru" is an Indian cricketer (batsman) and member of the Indian national cricket team since 1999 (one-dayers) and 2001 (Tests). He is an extremely attacking right-handed opening batsman and an occasional right-arm off-spin bowler. He is the record holder for the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket in a single innings (319), the fastest triple century in Test cricket (reached 300 off only 278 balls) and is the only Indian to score a triple century in Test Cricket. He is one of the only three players to have scored two triple hundreds, along with Don Bradman and Brian Lara.
He was appointed as vice-captain of the Indian team under Rahul Dravid in October 2005, until poor form saw him replaced by V. V. S. Laxman in December 2006 as Test vice captain and January 2007 saw him dropped from the ODI team and later from the test team as well. During his term as Vice-captain, Sehwag skippered the team in place of injured Dravid in 2 ODIs and 1 Test Match.


Early years

The son of a grain merchant, Sehwag spent his childhood in a bungalow in a joint family with siblings, uncles, aunts and sixteen cousins[citation needed]. Though now settled in New Delhi, the Sehwag family hailed from Haryana. Sehwag was the third of four children born to father Krishan and mother Krishna Sehwag, with two older sisters Manju, Anju and younger brother Vinod. His father attributes his interest in cricket to a toy bat which he was given when he was seven months old He attended Arora Vidya School in Delhi, and pestered his parents to let him play cricket, on the basis that he was not academically gifted. His father tried to end his career when he broke a tooth as a child in 1990, but Sehwag evaded the ban with the help of his mother




Early Domestic Cricket

Sehwag made his debut for Delhi cricket team in first class cricket in the 1997-98 season. He was selected to the North Zone cricket team for the Duleep Trophy the following 1998-99 season, ending fifth in the total runscoring list. The following year he was fourth on the Duleep Trophy run scoring list, including a 274, the highest score of the competition. This was attained against South Zone at Agartala in just 327 balls, and followed a rapid 187 from just 175 in a Ranji Trophy match against Punjab. He was then selected for the U-19 team national team, which toured South Africa. He was seventh in the 2000-01 season with two centuries, but his consistency earned the attention of selectors and he became a regular member of the national team in mid 2001.
Since his international career started, he has continued to play for Delhi in the domestic competition whilst he is not occupied with international duty and has captained North Zone to victory in the Deodhar Trophy in 2004-05 and 2005-06.[9] He also had a short stint with Leicestershire in county cricket in 2003, but a back injury lead to a mutual termination of the contract.

ODI career

Sehwag's ODI career started poorly when he scored 1 against Pakistan in Mohali in April 1999. His bowling performance was also ineffective and expensive, conceding 35 runs off 3 overs.
Sehwag wasn't given another match until the home series against Zimbabwe in December 2000. Sehwag rose to prominence in his fourth ODI match in March 2001 when he scored 58 off 54 balls, against Australia in Bangalore. Combined with his three wickets, he help earn India a victory and was awarded his first man of the match award. He followed this with an unproductive tour of Zimbabwe in mid 2001.
Sehwag had his international breakthrough in Sri Lanka in August 2001 when he was promoted to the opening slot for the tri-series also involving New Zealand. The promotion to open the innings came because regular opener Sachin Tendulkar was absent due to a foot injury. In the match against New Zealand that was to decide the finalist, he scored his maiden century from 69 balls. The century is the second fastest ODI century for an Indian behind Mohammad Azharuddin's 62 ball effort, also against New Zealand. This was his first score beyond 50 in ten matches and saw him named man of the match. This performance earned him a regular spot in the ODI squad in the middle-order. An innings of note in 2002 was the 22 ball half-century against Kenya in Bloemfontein, tying the second fastest 50 by an Indian.
With Ganguly's injury in the India-England ODI Series in January 2002, Sehwag received another opportunity to open the innings which he seized by scoring 82 from 64 balls in Kanpur in an eight-wicket Indian victory. With good performances as opener, Sehwag was made a permanent fixture at the top of the innings. Sachin Tendulkar, who opened in the England ODI series, was moved to middle order - a strategy that reaped dividends for India in 2002 in ODI matches. In the England series and the preceding tour to South Africa, he compiled 426 runs at 42.6 with four half-centuries .
After modest returns on the tours of the West Indies and England in early and mid 2002, he scored 271 runs at 90.33 in the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, with two man of the match performances. After running out Ian Blackwell, he was involved in a 192 run partnership with Ganguly, scoring 126 from 104 balls to help set up an eight wicket victory against England in a group match. He then scored 58 from 54 balls and took 3/25 including two wickets in the final over to help defeat South Africa by 10 runs to help India progress to the final.
In late 2002 he scored an unbeaten 114 from 82 balls that included a 196 run partnership with Ganguly to lead India to a nine wicket win over the West Indies in Rajkot. He was the only batsman score a century in the 7 match New Zealand ODI Series where he made two centuries - 108 in Napier in an Indian defeat and 112 in Auckland in a one-wicket victory.
Virender Sehwag had a mediocre 2003 Cricket World Cup, scoring 299 runs at an average of 27, he top scored with 82 in the loss against Australia in the final.

Sehwag in fielding practice.
Later in 2003, he scored his fourth century and earned MoM award against New Zealand in Hyderabad, scoring 130 and putting on a 182 run partnership with Tendulkar, to lay the foundations for a 145 run victory. In spite of it, Sehwag struggled for consistency in 2003 and 2003/04 ODI series where he had only one century and 3 fifties, two against minnows - Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and one against Pakistan, in 22 matches.
Even with his inconsistent form, he earned 3 MoM awards in 2004 and 2004/05 ODI season with one award each against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In the match against Pakistan in Kochi he scored 108 off 95 balls, his first century in eighteen months which set up a 95 run victory.
Sehwag then started a two year streak without a century in ODIs, as well as having his ODI tour of Pakistan in early 2006 curtailed due to a shoulder injury. His drought in limited overs cricket has puzzled cricket experts because of the consistent performances in Test matches with a high scoring rate has not translated into significant contributions in the ODI format of the game. Sehwag was dropped from the ODI Squad for the WI-IND 4 Match ODI series. With debate over whether he needs to be included in the 2007 Cricket World Cup squad, captain Dravid's insistence on his retention paved the way to being named in the world cup squad. However, despite this assurance, Sehwag's form has continued to decline, and he has now failed to pass 17 in his last seven games. India have won only two of those games.
Sehwag started the 2007 World Cup in poor form, only being picked for the side because of Rahul Dravid's wishes. He scored poorly in the first group match but bounced back to hit a magnificent 114 from 87 deliveries against lowly ranked Bermuda. The Indian team scored 413-5, the highest team total in a World Cup match, and went on to win the match but this was their only win in the tournament