Ranking India’s Top 10 ODI match-winners of all-time

6. Virender Sehwag

Part of a generation of players who defined how Indian cricket would be played in modern times, and one of the most fitting openers for the Indian team in its history, it is the ‘Nawab of Najafgarh’, Virender Sehwag who holds the 6th spot in this list. The second-ever player in One Day cricket to have scored a double ton, Sehwag’s career was characterised by his free-flowing and aggressive style of play, and the way he dominated the bowlers right from the start.

Just for context, the way this man toyed with the bowlers, apart from a couple of occasions, Virender Sehwag started every match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 with a boundary and played a 150+ run inning in the tournament’s very first game. These two very facts are a testament to Sehwag’s style of play and the way no one could stop him once he was on song and hitting the ball for fun.

Sehwag for the most part of his career in the Indian team opened the batting in One Day Internationals and it was very rare that the Indian team did not get to a good start when he was there to face the ball in the very first over of the inning. He played in 215 ODIs in his career and ended it with 8,273 runs to his name, embedding his name in the minds of every cricket fan from across the globe in the process. Sehwag occasionally contributed with the ball too and had 96 ODI wickets to his name too. He was once in a generation kind of a player and it would be a miracle if someone like him is seen playing on the cricket field anytime soon.