Virender Sehwag calls time on his international and IPL career

After dismissing reports of his impending retirement from international cricket on Monday night, Virender Sehwag, in his own inimitable style, announced his retirement from International cricket on Tuesday. He made the announcement on his 37th birthday via Twitter with this message:

I hereby retire from all forms of international cricket and from the Indian Premier League. A statement will follow.

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 20, 2015

On Monday, Sehwag had strongly hinted at his impending retirement after he had confirmed his participation in in next year’s Masters Champions League 2020, where only retired cricketers can play. After tweeting out the news of his retirement, he shortly tweeted his retirement statement.

“To paraphrase Mark Twain, the report of my retirement yesterday was exaggerated! However, I have always done what I felt was right and not what conformists thought to be right,” said Sehwag in his statement, adding, “God has been kind and I have done what I wanted to do – on the field and in my life. And I had decided some time back that I will retire on my 37th birthday. So today, while I spend my day with my family, I hereby announce my retirement from all forms of International Cricket and from the Indian Premier League.”

In a glorious international career spanning over 12 years, Sehwag played 104 Tests scoring 8,586 runs at an impressive average of 49.34, hitting 23 centuries and 32 half-centuries. He is the only triple centurion in Tests for India having scored a career-best knock of 309 against Pakistan at Multan. He is also one of those rare batsmen to have scored two triple tons with his next one (319) coming against South Africa — which is still an Indian record.

In 251 ODIs, he accumulated 8,273 runs at an average of 35.05 and scored 15 hundreds apart from hitting 38 fifties. In 19 Twenty20 Internationals, he managed 394 runs with two half-centuries.

He has been a part of two World Cup winning teams under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s leadership — 2007 World T20 in South Africa and the ICC Cricket World Cup in India in 2011.

With inputs from PTI