Virender Sehwag

Personal information
Full name Virender Sehwag
Born 20 October 1978 (1978-10-20) (age 31)
Delhi, India
Nickname Viru, Nawab of Najafgarh
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right arm off break
Role Opening batsman, occasional offspinner
International information
National side India
Test debut (cap 239) 3 November 2001 v South Africa
Last Test 2 December 2009 v Sri Lanka
ODI debut (cap 123) 1 April 1999 v Pakistan
Last ODI 16 August 2010 v Sri Lanka
ODI shirt no. 44 [1]
Domestic team information
Years Team
1997 – present Delhi
2003 Leicestershire
2008 – present Delhi Daredevils
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 79 225 139 290
Runs scored 7,039 7,230 11,178 9,035
Batting average 54.14 34.42 50.57 33.96
100s/50s 21/22 12/36 33/39 13/52
Top score 319 146 319 146
Balls bowled 3,139 4,200 7,416 5,716
Wickets 39 92 96 134
Bowling average 40.37 40.16 39.97 36.68
5 wickets in innings 1 0 1 0
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 n/a
Best bowling 5/104 4/6 5/104 4/17
Catches/stumpings 61/– 84/– 119/– 106/

Virender Sehwag :pronunciation (help•info) (Hindi: वीरेंद्र सेहवाग) (born 20 October 1978, in Delhi, India), affectionately known as Viru. is one of the leading batsmen in the Indian cricket team. Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and an occasional right-arm off-spin bowler. He played his first One Day International in 1999 and joined the Indian Test cricket team in 2001. In April 2009, Sehwag became the only Indian to be honored as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for his performance in 2008, subsequently becoming the first player of any nationality to retain the award for 2009.
Sehwag holds multiple records including the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket (319), which was also the fastest triple century in the history of international cricket (reached 300 off only 278 balls) as well as the fastest 250 by any batsman (in 207 balls against Sri Lanka on 3rd December, 2009 at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai). Sehwag also holds the distinction of being one of three batsmen in the world to have ever surpassed 300 twice in Test cricket, and the only one to score two triple centuries and take a five-wicket innings haul. In March 2009, Sehwag smashed the fastest century ever scored by an Indian in ODI cricket, from 60 balls.
Sehwag was appointed as vice-captain of the Indian team under Rahul Dravid in October 2005 but due to poor form, he was later replaced by V. V. S. Laxman in December 2006 as Test vice-captain. In January 2007, Sehwag was 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. Following his return to form in 2008 and the retirement of Anil Kumble, Sehwag has been reappointed as the vice-captain for both Tests and ODIs. By early 2009. Sehwag had reestablished himself as one of the best performing batsmen in ODI cricket.