Sehwag's Funny Anecdotes From His Cricketing Journey

Brut India

How did he get jersey number 44? Who was his favourite captain? Listen to Virender Sehwag talk about his childhood, early cricketing days in this 2019 interaction...  : Goafest

Transcript

00:00Thorpe 1, MS 2, Kohli 3.

00:02Answer?

00:04I think a leader's role is to know how to get his colleagues to put in 100% effort.

00:12See, when I used to bat, I used to entertain people.

00:15There was a funny incident.

00:17It's not superstitious, but you can say it is.

00:21I had a number, 44.

00:23I didn't get it because of my choice.

00:26Because I got selected in the team.

00:27The clothes company thought I would get selected.

00:32So they made a T-shirt with my name on it.

00:35But luckily I got selected.

00:37I got that T-shirt.

00:39I hid my name, but I couldn't hide my number.

00:42So that number became mine.

00:46But I kept playing.

00:48In 2005-2006, when I was going through a bad time,

00:51my mother went to an astrologer and asked what the number should be.

00:55The astrologer said it should be 46.

00:58So my mother told me the number.

01:01I wore 46, but it didn't help.

01:03My wife reads a lot of astrological books.

01:07She knows a lot about astrology.

01:11So she said, no, your number should be 2.

01:14So I wore a T-shirt with the number 2.

01:16But nothing happened.

01:18One thing did happen.

01:20My mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had a fight.

01:23And I was trapped.

01:24If I listen to my mother, I have to wear number 46.

01:27If I listen to my wife, I have to wear number 2.

01:30So I got two T-shirts made.

01:32One was 46 and the other was 2.

01:33So I wore one in each match.

01:35Then the rules of the ICC said you can only wear one number.

01:39So I stopped wearing numbers.

01:43You stopped wearing numbers.

01:44My mother and wife were happy.

01:46Until you started playing cricket,

01:48your family didn't know much about cricket.

01:54And you travelled miles

01:57just so that you could reach the practice session

02:00and prepare yourself.

02:02There was a lot of struggle when you started.

02:04Yes, absolutely.

02:05There is a small town in Delhi called Najavgarh.

02:08Why was Najavgarh famous?

02:11The headlines used to say,

02:13there were two murders in Najavgarh today.

02:16So it took a lot of years to change that.

02:19I mean, it took a lot of years to change it.

02:22Then there was the Nawab of Najavgarh.

02:24That's when it changed.

02:25But we were from a middle-class family.

02:28There was a TV at home.

02:31You could only watch Mahabharata and Chitra Yaga on it.

02:34So if I played cricket on it,

02:36the rest of the 55 people watching TV at home would get upset.

02:40So luckily, when the 1992 World Cup took place,

02:44that was the best time for me

02:46because the matches would start at 4 in the morning.

02:48Everyone would be sleeping.

02:49So I would wake up at 3.30 in the morning

02:52and watch the match from 4 in the morning.

02:53There is so much hard work that you can see,

02:55but you can't see it.

02:56So maybe we don't see a lot of hard work

02:59because we are only shown that we do ads,

03:01earn money, play IPL, play for India.

03:03But the struggle before that is very less.

03:08Ever since you started playing your game in the dressing room,

03:12you used to disturb other players with your commentary, I've heard.

03:16See, absolutely.

03:17Because when I used to bat, I used to entertain people.

03:20I used to think that so many people have come to watch,

03:23people must be watching on TV,

03:25so I'll have to keep batting so that they stay entertained.

03:28And when I used to go in after getting out,

03:30the game used to get very boring.

03:34But my role was the same.

03:36How do I entertain the people sitting inside?

03:40So I used to do commentary to entertain them.

03:42You have seen Sourav Ganguly's captaincy.

03:45You have also played in MS Dhoni's captaincy.

03:47And now you are observing Virat Kohli.

03:49And all three have a very unique style, very distinctive.

03:52They are very different.

03:53Sourav is one, MS is two, Kohli is three.

03:56Answer?

04:00Although I wasn't going to ask who you are putting at number one.

04:04My question to you was,

04:06whose style do you think can bring out a better team's performance?

04:10I think when you don't have a team,

04:14that's when leadership plays a big role.

04:16Because making a new team,

04:17you don't have experienced players.

04:19How do you take 100% from them?

04:20Sourav Ganguly might have done that.

04:22Sourav Ganguly showed that aggression, which led to results.

04:25After that, Rahul Dravid took over,

04:27then Anil Kumble, then MS Dhoni.

04:28I think when MS Dhoni came, he had a team, a solid team.

04:32That's when he got the captaincy of One Day Cricket and Test Cricket.

04:35Because actually, when we wanted to be number one,

04:38it was Anil Kumble's dream to be the captain.

04:40So he had put up a flag in the first meeting,

04:44that Test team number one.

04:46It was written on the board.

04:47So he was the captain for about a year.

04:49He retired when we were about to become number one.

04:52So maybe MS Dhoni got that credit.

04:54But actually, all of us, those 15 players,

04:57gave that credit to Anil Kumble.

04:58Even if you ask MS Dhoni off the record,

05:02he will definitely tell you.

05:05I think a leader's role should be to know

05:07how to make his colleagues put in 100% effort.

05:12And I always say this in my talk,

05:17that the CEO doesn't do the work.

05:19The lower-level people do the work.

05:20But a good CEO is one who can get the work done.

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