The gesture by the prime minister will lift the morale of Indian players and encourage them to perform stronger in future tournaments, said Virendra Sehwag, who was part of the 2011 World Cup-winning Indian squad.

“It is very rare for a prime minister to meet players in the dressing room and lift their spirits after a crushing defeat. I have never seen a prime minister taking time out of his busy schedule to lend a shoulder to players heartbroken after a defeat,” Virendra Sehwag said on November 25, while speaking to news agency ANI.

“It was an incredible gesture by Prime Minister Modi to visit the dressing room and boost the morale of the boys. It was a time when the boys needed some hand-holding, a gesture of solidarity and support. In such lows, you need someone to comfort you like family members do. I believe it was a touching gesture that will go a long way to motivating our boys ahead of future engagements, especially multilateral events. It will motivate us to cross the final hurdle next time,” the ICC Hall-of-Famer added.

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India, which won 10 matches in a row in the recently concluded World Cup, lost in the final against Australia. The latter, headed by Pat Cummins, bagged its sixth ODI World Cup title. 

In the final match played in Ahmedabad, where Modi was in attendance, India was put to bat first. The team was restricted to a below-par score of 240, which was chased down by Australia in 43 overs with six wickets in hand.

A section of Modi’s critics, including his top political rival and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, took the “panauti (inauspicious)” jibe against the prime minister, linking him to India’s defeat in the final. 

“You don’t lose a World Cup final because of any single individual. Our loss to Australia will spur us to chase glory in the next World Cup final,” Sehwag was quoted as saying in the ANI report, in the context of critics linking Modi’s attendance to the defeat in the World Cup final.

It’s rare to see Virender Sehwag talk as highly or passionately about anyone else as Sachin Tendulkar. The former India batter, who, along with Tendulkar, formed one of the most destructive opening pairs in ODIs, has always kept Sachin on a pedestal next to none… and for several reasons. Like many, Sehwag, who too grew up idolising Tendulkar, not only ended up being teammates with him, but became one of Sachin’s closest friends. Even today, whenever Tendulkar and Sehwag come together in the same frame – in ICC World Cups, or Legends League Cricket, it is blockbuster.

Sehwag and Tendulkar have been part of some of Indian cricket’s fiercest rivalries against, more so against Australia and Pakistan. In fact, when Sehwag scored his famous triple-century against Pakistan, Tendulkar was at the non-striker end as his partner. India’s 2004 tour of Pakistan ended up being a huge turning point in Sehwag’s career as not only did he play with one of the greatest Indian teams but also against a solid opposition unit. From that Pakistan line-up, one batter captivated Sehwag’s imagination like no other, so much so that he hailed him as Asia’s best middle-order batter.

“Everyone talks about Sachin Tendulkar but Inzamam-Ul-Haq is Asia’s biggest middle-order batsman. See Tendulkar was above the league of batsmen. So he doesn’t count. But when it comes to the most superior-middle order batsman across India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, I have never seen anyone better than him (Inzi),” Sehwag told renowned anchor and host Gaurav Kapur on his famous show ‘Breakfast with Champions’ produced by Oaktree Sports.

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That Sehwag lauded Inzamam over the likes of his own teammates Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sri Lanka greats Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene says something. By then Inzamam was a veteran – he had made his debut in 1992 – whereas the others had burst onto the scene four years later (Sangakkara even later). But under Inzamam, the Pakistan team, from 2003 to 2007 was a pretty formidable unit. In fact, his win percentage of 58 is next only to Wasim Akram. However, it was his batting and the fact that he was ahead of his time till the very end of his career that Sehwag is a huge admirer of.

“In that era – 2003-04 – he used to talk about scoring 8 an over. He would tell his partner, ‘Don’t worry. You’ll score easily’. Means 80 runs in 10 overs. Other teams would panic but he was always too confident,” he added.

Delhi Capitals languished to the bottom of the table with a third straight defeat in IPL 2023 on Saturday. In response to a colossal target of 200, set by Rajasthan Royals on a batting-friendly Guwahati track, Delhi only managed to crawl to 142 runs, hence succumbing to a concerning 57-run loss which simultaneously affected their net run rate as well. And batting legend Virender Sehwag and former India cricketer Rohan Gavaskar lashed out at DC skipper David Warner for the loss after his sluggish knock of 65 off 55.

DC skipper then combined with Lalit Yadav to stitch a 64-run stand but while the latter looked the more aggressive one, Warner, who was well settled by then, failed to change his gears while the asking rate putting more and more pressure on the visitors. Warner eventually completed his fifty and reached the milestone of 6000 runs, but the lower order succumbed under pressure as RR restricted DC to just 142 for nine.

Furious as Warner’s knock, Sehwag, in conversation with Cricbuzz after Delhi’s loss, gave an ultimatum to the Aussie, asking him to either take a leaf out of players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a thundering fifty in RR’s win, or not play in IPL.

“I feel it is time that we tell him in English now so that Warner listens to it and feels hurt. David, if you are listening, please play well. Score 50 in 25 balls. Learn from Jaiswal, he hit in 25 balls. If you cannot do that, do not come and play in the IPL,” Sehwag said.

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“It would have been better for the team if David Warner got out for 30 runs, rather than making 55-60. Players like Rovman Powell and Ishan Porel could have come out much earlier and maybe could have done anything. No balls were left for those players, and they are big hitters in team,” he added.

Former India cricketer Gavaskar, who was part of the panel, also fumed at Warner, saying that had it been any young Indian cricketer, it would have been his last game in IPL.

“If you are dismissed for 8 off 8, one can say okay he couldn’t find that rhythm. But you are the captain here, you have that experience. They showed that he was the fastest to 6000 IPL runs so you can never imagine him playing these knocks. David Warner would have been retired hurt by Delhi Capitals if he was not their captain. If this was a young Indian player, his tournament would have been over. It would have been his last match. Warner has to take responsibility for this loss,” he said.