'Almost all Pakistan cricketers abused me a lot when I came out to bat' - Virender Sehwag recalls his international debut

Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag has revealed that he had to face a lot of abuse from Pakistan cricketers in his debut game in Mohali. He made his international debut in an ODI in 1999 against the arch-rivals and most interestingly, batted at number seven. Sehwag could only score a run off two balls before Shoaib Akhtar pinned him in front of the stumps.

It was the sixth match of the Pepsi Cup and Pakistan were absolutely on top when Sehwag came out with India’s score reading 139/5 in the 40th over. With the off-field tensions soaring between the two countries then, international matches also used to be tense between India and Pakistan.

Coming back to Virender Sehwag’s claims, he recalled that the likes of Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi among others abused him a lot when he came out to bat. “I was around 20-21 years old then. When I went in to bat, the players like Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Yousuf and all other Pakistan team members, welcomed me by abusing a lot. I even didn’t know some of the bad words they used.

“I couldn’t say much in response then as it was my first game and was nervous as well. Close to 20-25k people had come to watch the game,” Sehwag said while speaking to RJ Raunak in his new show 13 Jawab Nahi on his Youtube channel.

I still get goosebumps when India plays against Pakistan, says Sehwag

Virender Sehwag didn’t have a great debut but fast forward to 2003-04 season when India toured Pakistan and he had a reputation of being a swashbuckling opener in both Test and ODI formats. He smashed a famous triple century in Multan against almost the same set of players. Recalling those times, Sehwag stated that it was kind of his way of taking a revenge responding to all the abuses he got on debut.

Moreover, he also revealed it was due to that abusive welcome he got, the 42-year-old revealed he still gets goosebumps whenever India faces their arch-rivals. “But later once I got settled in the team, then I responded to all the abuses with triple century when we toured Pakistan in 2003-04 and took a kind of a revenge. For the same reason I think whenever India plays Pakistan, I still get goosebumps,” Sehwag added.