Having Earned INR 3.33 Crore In IPL 2008, Virender Sehwag Doubted Indian Premier League’s Success Initially

One of five icon players ahead of the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League, former Indian batter Virender Sehwag had doubted the tournament’s success initially. An icon for Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals), Sehwag was not a part of the auction but was directly signed before being compensated for a price of INR 3.33 crore.

Although there were assumptions around the IPL becoming the biggest cricketing league around the world from the word go, Sehwag wasn’t easily convinced about such dreamy proposals. Part of the squad for India’s tour of Australia 2007/08, Sehwag was one of the many Indian cricketers who had received their first IPL-related brief from former captain Sunil Gavaskar and former all-rounder Ravi Shastri down under.

Although it failed miserably including the participants facing serious repercussions, it is worth of a mention that the Indian Cricket League had already been launched by then. Even though the IPL was backed by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), a criticizing reception for the ICL could’ve played a part in shaping Sehwag’s first impression of another T20 tournament.

Virender Sehwag Doubted Indian Premier League’s Success Initially

In a conversation with Star Sports Network while discussing the completion of 15 years of the IPL earlier this year, Sehwag was asked to recall his first IPL memory. Skeptical about doing so due to the uncertain future, Sehwag recalled how Gavaskar and Shastri had asked the cricketers to give away their rights to the league.

Gavaskar and Shastri had assured the players that this league would become a big hit in the near future. Furthermore, they also informed them that those who will give their rights will earn a lot more money in the future.

“Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri approached us and said that there is going to be an Indian Premier League and they asked us for all our rights.”

“We were wondering whether the league would be successful or not – what if after giving away our rights we do not gain anything from it.”

Sehwag, however, eventually agreed that Shastri and Gavaskar were quite right about the tournament. Mentioning how money was secondary to him at the time, little did Sehwag know that IPL would go on to become one of the richest sporting properties within 15 years.

How Was Virender Sehwag Selected For IPL 2008?

Five out of the eight franchises had picked one legendary player from their home state as an Icon player. Initially, Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai), Yuvraj Singh (Punjab), Sourav Ganguly (Kolkata) and Rahul Dravid (Bangalore) were named as icons. Sehwag’s name was later proposed by Delhi.

The icon players earned 15% more than the next-best paid player of the franchise. At $350,000, Delhi’s most-expensive player of IPL 2008 auction was legendary pacer Glenn McGrath. Hence, Sehwag’s salary was decided on the basis of this amount.

Not originally an icon, Sehwag had once revealed that he always wanted to play for his home franchise. It is to be noted that he himself asked Delhi’s management to make him an icon player so as to skip the auction.

“I grew up here and wanted to play for Delhi and not for any other team. Had I not been made the icon player I could have been landed up in any other team. So, I had asked the owner to make the arrangements,” Sehwag was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

Readers must note that the move did affect Daredevils’ budget before the auction. The franchise, which desperately wanted to sign Indian pacer Ishant Sharma, ended up losing the battle to Kolkata Knight Riders. Much like Sehwag, Sharma was another local player. DD, however, bagged Gautam Gambhir, who replaced Sehwag as their captain in IPL 2010.