During an interaction with popular YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia in his chat show, former India batter – turned commentator Aakash Chopra had revealed how Virender Sehwag never had this tendency to mince with words, or beat around the bush when he had to say something which people would otherwise generally try and avoid.
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As per Chopra, Virender Sehwag had this honesty and a heart as clean as a slate, to not even hesitate to clearly express his vulnerable side.
Once while they were opening together during a Test match against Australia at Sydney, Sehwag, who had this reputation of being the aggressive batter who’d take on the bowlers right from the get-go, simply told Chopra that he would not be at ease facing the Aussie quick Brett Lee, as he was managing to extract considerable swing with the new ball.
He simply told Chopra that he is not the one to take the strike against Lee, and would rather face Jason Gillespie from the other end.
Aakash Chopra reveals how Virender Sehwag used to tell people at their face that he disliked them
Chopra further revealed Sehwag’s personality traits by exclaiming how the latter had this brilliant ‘at your face’ demeanor, where he would not even care whether his words had it in them to offend people.
However, such was his honesty that people would often take his words with a smile, as they knew they weren’t uttered with any ulterior motive or ill-intention.
“He (Sehwag) was brilliant. Nobody took him badly because Viru was so honest. His honesty was so endearing, and he was often like ‘this is who I am, take it or leave it’. He has a heart of Gold, but whatever he felt, he would say it openly. He would even tell you that he doesn’t like you! He would tell you at your face that he doesn’t like this particular thing about you,” remarked Chopra.
Even Sourav Ganguly was not spared
Chopra even stated that Sehwag wouldn’t even spare the then Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. He would let him know that just because he’s the skipper of the team, it doesn’t mean that he’s immune to getting dropped. He’d often remind his about his lack of run-scoring form.
