Virender Sehwag was handed the vice-captaincy of the Indian cricket team twice in his career. With the two stints coming three years apart, Sehwag, despite confirming his availability to “guide youngsters”, was reluctant to take up the official responsibility for the second time in 2008.
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Speaking to former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar on Sports18‘s special segment called ‘Home Of Heroes’, Sehwag had provided a valid reason behind initially rejecting to become legendary MS Dhoni‘s deputy. Pretty neutral when it came to captaincy aspirations, Sehwag was comfortable with waiting for his turn to lead than actively seeking a promotion.
Perhaps wanting to refrain from initiating a potential controversy, Sehwag explicitly tried to explain the same to both Dhoni and the then chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth. On Sehwag’s behest, even Dhoni conveyed the message to the selectors. However, Srikkanth refused the proposal offered by both Dhoni and Sehwag.
“Jab Srikkanth selector bane, chairman bane aur woh selection panel aaya, tab unhone zaroor mujhe MS Dhoni ka vice-captain banaya. Tab maine unko yeh bhi kaha ‘Sir, main itna senior ho gaya hoon ki mujhe vice-captaincy ki zarurat nahi hai. Aap kisi aur ko groom kijiye kyunki mere paas ab utne saal nahi hai ki main vice-captain rahun aur phir mujhe captaincy milegi, mera koi shaunk bhi nahin hai [When Srikkanth became the chief selector, he made me MS Dhoni’s vice-captain. I said to him, ‘Sir, I’m very senior now and don’t need the tag of a vice-captain. Instead, you should groom a youngster. I didn’t have many years left in me to become the captain of the side again. That’s why I wasn’t interested],” Sehwag told Sports18.
Apart from the international arena, Sehwag led Delhi in domestic cricket and Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in the Indian Premier League. Post leading them for a couple of seasons, the right-handed batter had relinquished captaincy in order to focus on his batting.
Virender Sehwag Captaincy Record
Not the official vice-captain though, Sehwag had led India for the first time when former captain Sourav Ganguly had missed a match during TVS Cup 2003. Sehwag had scored 43 (44) and registered bowling figures of 2-0-11-1 in a 4-wicket Indian victory.
With him being officially appointed Dravid’s deputy by then, the second instance of Sehwag leading the national team had come after more than two and a half years as the skipper was rested for the sixth ODI against Sri Lanka.
These two victories were followed by Sehwag leading India to three ODI losses in 2006. Towards the end of the year, he was also the captain during India’s first-ever T20I against South Africa. Despite being Dhoni’s senior by more than half-a-decade, Sehwag wasn’t preferred over him as India’s captain during ICC World Twenty20 2007.
In the second official stint starting November 2008, Sehwag led India across three overseas Tests and seven ODIs. As a captain, Sehwag’s maiden ODI double century had come in one of the home ODIs against West Indies. Interestingly, he couldn’t score a half-century in his remaining 11 ODIs as an Indian captain.
All in all, Sehwag led India in 17 matches (12 ODIs, four Tests and one T20I). While India won 10 (seven ODIs, two Tests and one T20I) matches across formats under Sehwag, they lost six and drew one. A win percentage of 58.82% across formats is certainly not bad for someone who was never conferred with a permanent leadership role during the course of a decorated career.
