'So you played them out? Are you done?' - Virender Sehwag recalls selfless incident with Ishant Sharma back from 2008

Virender Sehwag is widely revered as one of the most explosive batters of the Indian team. During his active years, Sehwag was feared by bowlers across the globe, as he had a reputation for attacking the ball right from the start. He also has fabulous stats to show for his stellar career.

In the 104 Tests that Sehwag played for India, he accumulated a whopping 8586 runs, with his best innings being his 319 runs against South Africa in 2008. But it was in the ODIs that the ace batter played his best cricket. He represented India in 251 ODIs, where he scored 8273 runs.

Recently, Sehwag also came forward to talk about an incident involving Ishant Sharma back when India took on Sri Lanka in 2008. He opined that if Ishant had not urged him to take a single, he could have scored even more runs.

I didn't have that selfishness: Sehwag

In a chat with YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia, Sehwag revealed that when he was batting at 199 against Sri Lanka, he was hesitating to take a single as Ishant Sharma was on the other end. He talked about the incident with Ishant after he was asked about negative influences in the dressing room.

"Let me tell you a story. I was batting on 199. Ishant Sharma was my partner. I knew Ishant couldn't play out Muralitharan and (Ajantha) Mendis. I could've been selfish that time, I could've taken a single to reach my 200 and give Ishant the strike. But I played out five deliveries against Muralitharan and took a single off the last ball," Sehwag said in the video

"Ishant came to me and said, ‘Bhaiya, I will play. You’re getting scared for no reason'. I said okay, I scored 200, took a single, reached 201 and gave him the strike. Ishant couldn't survive two balls. Then I asked him, ‘So you played them out? Are you done?" he said.

"Here, I was thinking that I can add more runs to the scoreboard and he said he will play them out. It wasn't important for me to score 200. All I wanted was to be at the strike and score as many runs as possible for the team. So, I didn't have that selfishness," he added.