Virender Sehwag has said he was “hurt” after being dropped from the Indian Team in 2013 in the middle of the Test series against Australia. He said,”I was dropped and nobody called or informed me , I got news from the news paper , It hurt a lot.”
Sehwag was dropped from the team after the second Test against Australia in Hyderabad but he felt that selectors should have given him an option to play two more Tests and retire in an Indian jersey.
Sehwag said,”I hadn’t scored runs in two Tests against Australia. So, I was thinking I would get a couple of more opportunities to perform well in the last two Tests (of the series) and then get dropped if I didn’t perform. If the selectors would have given me that option to play two more Tests and say that you play the two matches and then retire, I would have thought about it,”
Sehwag played as a middle order batsman in last three seasons in first-class cricket, something he wanted to play as a middle order batsman in Indian team.
“I told the management (about wanting to bat lower down) but they felt that I was still good enough to play as an opener and they didn’t want to take chances with the opening pair. I tried my best but could not get an opportunity in the middle order,” he added.
And he said,”When I played my last series, Tendulkar was still there, Kohli and Dhoni were there. Pujara was playing as the No. 3 batsman. Tendulkar was playing at 4, Kohli at 5 and it meant that I had to bat at No. 6 after Tendulkar as you could not ask him to bat at No 3 or 5. So, there was no chance for me to bat in the middle order.”
“When I got dropped, I was thinking that I’m a good player and can get back into the Indian team but I was still living in the mindset that I am an aggressive opener and can score runs but I did not realise that domestic cricket is totally different to international cricket and I was still playing in the same way,” he said.
Sehwag said,”I did not score runs that (2013-14) season and my highest was 50-odd (56) and I was struggling to cope up with conditions in Delhi. I then changed my thinking next year and batting style by giving myself a little more time and I scored 500 plus runs, but I needed to score big in the previous season and maybe I would have got back into the team. It was too late but I was playing because I wanted to play the game.”