The Nawab of Najafgarh, Virender Sehwag, who is ruling the social media these days with his birthday tweets and also with one-liners during commentary box, formerly used to make a mark among his teammates and cricket fraternity through his simple and funny statements.
Let’s have a look at the Top 10 funniest statements by Virender Sehwag:
10.) “Beta beta hota hai, aur baap baap hota hai!” – Virender Sehwag sledging Shoaib Akhtar after the latter was hooked for a six by Sachin Tendulkar.
9.) On his love of playing spin: “Once Gary Kirsten asked me, ‘What would you do if there is a long-off, long-on and deep midwicket?’ I asked, ‘Gary sir, do fielders matter to me?’ He burst out laughing… Let me give an example: I was batting on 291 at Chepauk, against South Africa. I told Paul Harris, ‘Come round the wicket and first ball I’ll hit you for a six.’ He accepted my challenge and the very first ball I hit him for a straight six, and there was a long-off, long-on, deep midwicket and a deep point. I was so tired and he was bowling on the pads and I was getting bored. So rather than spending 10-15 minutes to get to the triple-century I gave him good advice.”
8.) On hitting sixes while approaching landmarks: “Sachin Tendulkar always likes to chat and can get serious and caution you not to hit unnecessary shots. During that (Multan) innings he told me, ‘If you try to hit a six I will hit you on the bum.’ He gave me a simple example – about my Melbourne innings in 2003, when I tried to hit a six on 195 and got out. Till then India were in a good position, but after that we couldn’t make a big score and we lost the Test. So he made me realise my mistake. That is why I didn’t hit sixes in Multan, but when I was near 300 I told him that I was going to hit Saqlain (Mushtaq) and he could hit me on my bum!”
7.) To security people in Durban who insisted Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir not walk out on their own late in the evening: “No, there is no danger. We are the most dangerous batsmen in the world.”
6.) When Sehwag asked for the millionth time what was the difference between him and Sachin Tendulkar: “Our bank balance.”
5.) On Geoffrey Boycott, who had referred to him as ‘talented but brainless’: “Boycott can say what he wants. He once batted the whole day and hit just one four.”
4.) On knowing that Rahul Dravid and he missed a golden chance of breaking the 50-year world record of 414 runs (held by Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy) for the opening wicket partnership by four runs. “Who is Vinoo Mankad? I don’t know anything about them. I haven’t even heard about them.”
3.) To Pakistan close-in fielders after Shoaib Akhtar continuously asked Sehwag to hook, bowling bouncers at him from around the wicket: “Yeh bowling kar raha hai ya bheekh maang raha hai?”
2.) In an advert series titled ‘Sehwag Ke Thande Funde’ he said, “Ball ka ghar hai boundary, wahan usay pahunchao.”
1.) Michael Clarke was sledging Sachin Tendulkar by saying he is getting old and have come out to bat after spending a lot of time in the dressing room doing ‘time-pass’. Sehwag asked Clarke to stop but he didn’t. Clarke’s teammates used to call him (Clarke) ‘Pup’ and so Sehwag takes a dig and asked him which breed he is?