Just over a couple of weeks after becoming the first Indian batter to score two triple centuries in Test cricket, former batter Virender Sehwag believed he was quite close to a maiden five-wicket haul during his appearance on What The Duck with Vikram Sathaye six years ago. Sehwag never really rated off-spinners highly while batting, but he was decent enough in that aspect
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Sehwag was narrating the incident of the third Test of South Africa your of India 2008 in Kanpur. Not in a criticizing manner though, Sehwag also blamed stand-in captain MS Dhoni for denying a bowling feat to him in a bid to provide much-needed confidence to leg-spinner Piyush Chawla.
Sehwag had revealed that Chawla leaked a lot of runs while bowling and that’s why Dhoni wanted him to get a few wickets as he was one of the main bowlers of the side. However, Chawla waited more than four years to play his next Test match after this one in 2012.
“Maine 4 ya 5 over mai teen out kar die the. Teen wickets mai Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Amla. Aur uske baadd MS ne mujhe rok dia [I took three wickets in 4-5 overs and those wickets were Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Amla. Then MS stopped me.],” Sehwag had said.
For the unversed, this match was the first time Dhoni had captained in the format due to an injury to then-captain Anil Kumble. Dhoni became full-time Test captain in the same year itself when Kumble announced his retirement from the format after the home Test series against Australia in November.
Did MS Dhoni Deny Virender Sehwag A Maiden 5-Wicket Haul In Tests?
Sehwag made a bold statement but some of his mentioned claims need a proper fact check. First things first, neither Dhoni deny Sehwag his first Test five-wicket haul nor did the latter pick three wickets within 4-5 overs in the second innings. He was introduced in the attack for the first time in the second session on the third day.
The South African duo of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis were at the crease, and Sehwag broke the partnership on his very first delivery. He bowled a quicker delivery outside off-stump to Kallis and Wasim Jaffer took his catch at short leg. However, contrary to what Sehwag said, Hashim Amla was already back in the pavilion before Sehwag started bowling.
Sehwag again showed his magic with the ball and took Smith’s wicket on the first ball of his third over. He bowled a quicker delivery outside the leg stump, Smith tried to play on the leg side but got bowled around his legs. It was a wicket-maiden over which truly brought India on the top.
Sehwag bowled a five-over spell and then was again handed the ball for a couple of overs after the tea break only to be replaced by pacer S Sreesanth. Dhoni was making regular bowling changes in the final session of the match. The duo of spinner Harbhajan Singh and pacer Ishant Sharma took three wickets in two overs to ease India’s job.
Dhoni then again turned to Sehwag who took the wicket of pacer Makhaya Ntini which was the final nail in the coffin. It was again a delivery outside off-stump which spun sharply and Sourav Ganguly took an easy catch at silly point. Sehwag’s spell of 8.5-2-12-3 was really impressive, but his claims about Dhoni were untrue.
It is worth mentioning that Chawla, who had bowled four overs in the innings, never really bowled in this session. It was the first innings when Chawla leaked 66 runs in 16 overs. Sehwag must have got confused with the same.
Despite not achieving his first five-wicket haul in Kanpur, It was later in the same year that Sehwag picked a maiden five-wicket haul during the third Test of Australia’s tour of India in Delhi. He picked the wickets of Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson and Cameron White in that match.
Sehwag once also claimed that he could have smashed his third Test triple-century if former captain Rahul Dravid had not given him his advice. Sehwag was one on the receiving end as well when Kumble blamed the right-handed opener for missing out on his 2nd Test hundred.
