Virender Sehwag rarely got emotionally hijacked: Simon Taufel

Simon Taufel, the legendary umpire, put forth his experience of rubbing shoulders with Virender Sehwag, the former Indian batsman. The 49-year-old used to enjoy Sehwag’s ‘cheeky humour’ and said that the Nawab of Najafgarh never got hijacked by emotions. The swashbuckling opener was the first Indian to get a triple century in Tests against Pakistan in Multan back in 2004.

Taufel, who won the ICC Umpire of the Year award five times from 2004 to 2008, lauded Sehwag for his temperament. Taufel also sounded happy for officiating in the game in Multan. In fact, it was Taufel who signalled the six when Sehwag deposited Saqlain Mushtaq over the mid-wicket boundary.

I was very lucky to have umpired that match in Multan: Simon Taufel

“I always enjoyed umpiring and working with players like Sehwag. He had an excellent temperament he could score 300 or 0, and he would be the same person standing next to me at square leg. He very rarely got emotionally hijacked and his cheeky humour always shone through,” Taufel was quoted as saying in Outlook.

“I was very lucky to have umpired that match in Multan with David Shepherd and Ranjan Madugalle (match referee) — both good men and strong in a crisis. Their experience helped me a lot in a significant series like this,” the veteran stated.

Taufel remembered that Sourav Ganguly, the then Indian skipper, was ruled out of the match due to a back injury and Rahul Dravid stood in for him. India ended up winning the match by an innings and 52 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

“I did not remember that one of my signals was responsible for Viru’s triple hundred. My notes tell me that Sourav Ganguly was ruled out of the match with injury and Rahul Dravid took over as captain,” Taufel added.

Apart from Sehwag’s 375-ball 309, Sachin Tendulkar also turned up with an unbeaten 194 and guided India to a formidable score of 675/5 declared. The game also had a controversy etched to it after Dravid declared the innings with Sachin on the verge of a double century. The situation became a tad heated in the dressing room, but things settled later.