'We were wondering if this league will be successful' - Virender Sehwag reveals initial reaction of Indian team when they were told about IPL

The first-ever auction of the Indian Premier League laid the foundation for the tournament to become a grand affair in the years to come. However, the league didn’t have the best of openings as there was scepticism around the whole process of the auction among the players.

Recently, Virender Sehwag, who was one of the biggest players of the inaugural season, revealed about the initial reaction of the Indian players when they were told about the auction. The Delhi batter disclosed that the Indian team was first told about the auction when they were on 2007/08 tour of Australia. The Auction took place on February 20, 2008.

“It has been a while, the kids have grown up, they are playing cricket now so it does feel like we have grown up. I can never forget the day we were briefed for the first time,” said Sehwag. The former Indian opener further said that former Indian cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri were the first to approach the players with the idea.

“We were in Australia. Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri approached us and said that there is this thing called the Indian Premier League that is going to happen and they were asking us to give them all our rights. We were wondering if this league will really be a success or not. We are giving all our rights but then what if we end up getting nothing for it,” said the Nawab of Najafgarh.

“But they made sure that we understand that it is going to become a very big league in the future. Whatever rights you give to this league, you will be earning far more than what you are now. The money was a secondary factor of course, but at the time we never imagined that it would become such a big platform where new players will get chances and they will end up replacing us,” he said.

Sehwag was bought by Delhi Daredevils for the inaugural season of IPL

Virender Sehwag was bought by the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in the first IPL auction. He led the side for two seasons before stepping down and passing over the reins to Gautam Gambhir. In the eight seasons played in the IPL, Sehwag failed to win the trophy even once.

After Delhi, he moved to Kings XI Punjab now known as Punjab Kings, with whom he reached the final in 2014. He played 104 matches in his IPL career, where he scored 2728 runs at an average of 27.56 and a strike rate of 155.44. He also scored 16 half-centuries and two centuries in his career.

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