He would walk in at the fall of the fourth or fifth wicket and we would throw the ball to the medium pacer in the side with a clear instruction to bowl only bouncers and more often than not, the ploy would work.


Virender Sehwag cuts during fourth Test against England at The Oval in London in 2011 . Pic/Getty Images

This was the story of 18-year-old Virender Sehwag in Delhi's hot-weather tournaments that were played on slow, low and barren pitches. Once in a while Sehwag would go berserk and win matches for his side, but that never perturbed the opposition from trying the same ploy the next time they met. Back then, nobody even entertained the thoughts of Sehwag scoring over 8000 Test runs, let alone scoring them as an opener.