Shoaib Akhtar knew he used to chuck while bowling: Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag continued his ‘see the ball, hit the ball’ ways while speaking on the third episode of Home of Heroes, Sports18 newest offering. In his inimitable style, Sehwag called out former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar’s action. 

“Shoaib knows he used to jerk his elbow; he knew he was chucking too. Why would ICC ban him otherwise?” Sehwag says with a chuckle. “Brett Lee’s hand came down straight, so it was easy to pick the ball. But with Shoaib, you could never guess where the hand and the ball will come from.”

The Nawab of Najafgarh says Shane Bond was the toughest fast bowler he faced. “His deliveries would come swinging into your body, even if he bowled outside off stump,” says Sehwag adding Lee and Shoaib were the other two who were quickest he faced. 

“I never feared facing Brett Lee, but with Shoaib, I could not trust what he would do if I hit him twice to the fence. Maybe a beamer or a toe-crushing yorker,” admits Sehwag, who considers the Pakistan pacer his ‘boundary bowler’. 

No wonder Sehwag enjoyed facing Shoaib and his team in Tests averaging over 90 with a century, two double tons and a triple. His audacious strokeplay was a breath of fresh air Test cricket needed. Instead of going through the grind for big scores, Sehwag backed his method behind the madness.

“Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly all would score their centuries playing 150-200 balls. If I scored hundreds at the same rate, no one would remember me. I had to score runs faster than them to create my identity,” says Sehwag. 

Sehwag also reveals that milestones never stopped him from taking his foot off the pedal. “I always thought that if I stayed till the end of the day, I should score 250 runs, and in that process, I obviously would have to cross 100, 150, 200 and so on,” says Sehwag. “So, there was no pressure in hitting a ball to or over the fence in the nineties because the goal was not to stop at 100.”