“Anil Kumble saved my test career in 2007,” Virender Sehwag recalls how former Indian captain revived his batting form on Australia tour

The former Indian opening batsman Virender Sehwag reckons that it was Anil Kumble who saved his test career 15 years back in 2007 by picking him for the Australia tour out of nowhere and then giving him a playing opportunity in Australia as well.

Virender Sehwag was dropped from the Indian test team around 2007 and then he didn’t do anything significant in domestic cricket to command a comeback, but when Anil Kumble took over the captaincy from Rahul Dravid, he requested the selectors that he needed Sehwag for the Australia tour.

Sehwag was not included in the playing XI for the first couple of test matches on the tour, both of which India lost, but they had to play a practice game ahead of the third test match in Perth.

According to Sehwag, who was speaking on Sports 18’s new show named Home of Heroes, Kumble told him if he scores a 50 in the practice game, he would get the opportunity to play the Perth test match at the top of the order.

Sehwag recalled that not only did he score a fifty in that practice game, but he also went on to score a hundred and Kumble, sticking to his words, gave him the opportunity in Perth from where his test career saw another rise.

Virender Sehwag cemented his place in the Indian test team again

Virender Sehwag made a couple of valuable contributions for India in the Perth test, but it was in the next test match in Adelaide where he scored a big hundred and then he just went from strength to strength in the longest format of the game for the next few years.

Sehwag ended up becoming a key member of the test side captained by MS Dhoni as well, who was Kumble’s successor and played a key part in India becoming the no. 1 test team in the world. It was during his second peak in test cricket that Sehwag played knocks like 319 against South Africa and 293 against Sri Lanka.