'Chopraji ye 40-40 run maar rahe ho drop ho jaoge' - Aakash Chopra recalls Virender Sehwag's words from playing days

Aakash Chopra, the former Indian cricketer, has heaped praises on Virender Sehwag, saying that the latter was “brutally honest” and also communicated clearly about what he could do and what he couldn’t. The Delhi-born Nawab of Najafgarh didn’t complicate the game much and would even go after the first ball of the over in a Test match if it’s in his zone.

Chopra said that the now 41-year-old used to take the ‘carefree’ approach and also blended his game with sense, not taking on short deliveries. In his Test career, Sehwag notched 8,586 runs from 104 matches at an average of 49.34 with 23 centuries and 32 half-centuries. He last donned the national jersey against Australia in 2013 during a Test versus Australia in Hyderabad.

Chopra lauds Virender Sehwag for his discipline, understanding and conviction

“His (Sehwag) strength is that he is brutally honest about what he could and couldn’t do. Even with all the bravado and aggression and ‘Viru’ style of playing, you won’t remember him actually taking on a bouncer. Now that’s discipline,” Chopra was quoted as saying to Gaurav Kapur on his ’22 Yarns’ Podcast uploaded on Spotify.

“That tells you loads about what’s behind that exterior, that facade that we see, which is carefree, happy-go-lucky, see the ball hit the ball. He’s seen a bouncer, and he hasn’t attempted it in 8,000 Test runs. So that kind of discipline, understanding, and conviction in his own game was unbelievable,” he stated.

Chopra also recalled some Sehwag’s advice for him when the former was unable to convert his starts. Sehwag understood that Chopra could be axed on not getting the big scores. In his career, Chopra racked up 437 runs at an average of 23 with a top score of 60.

“He would come and tell me, ‘Chopraji ye 40-40 run maar rahe ho drop ho jaoge team se. Set hone ke baad out hone se koi khelta nahi hai aage (Chopra ji, you are scoring 40-40 scores, would be dropped from the team. No one stays in the team if he gets out after settling down).’ And he would also say the same thing about himself,” Chopra added.