Sehwag to Retire from International Cricket

Virender Sehwag celebrates second triple century in Test in Chennai against South Africa on 26 Mar 2008.

New Delhi: Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag has set decided to retire from international cricket, Times of India reports.

Sehwag has signed up to play in the Masters Champions League, which has the stipulation that all players taking part in the tournament should have retired from international cricket.

The swashbuckling batsman, who moved from him home state Delhi to neighbouring Haryana from the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy campaign, is expected to formally announce his retirement in the next couple of days.

Sehwag has been one of India’s premier match-winners with the bat. His fearless approach and utter disdain for the most feared bowlers have won him admiration from the cricket world all over and he is one of the most loved cricketers in the country.

Sehwag, a day short of his 37th birthday, is widely considered one of India's greatest opening batsmen, and revolutionised the art of batting against the new ball in Test cricket with his aggressive approach, scoring at a strike rate of over 80 in the longest format.

Sehwag has been out of India's plans for over two years, having last played for the national side in the Hyderabad Test against Australia in March 2013.

Sehwag played 104 Tests, 251 ODIs and 19 T20Is, scoring over 17000 international runs and picking up 136 wickets with his offspin. His greatest moments came in Test cricket, where he made 23 hundreds including the only two triple-centuries by any Indian batsman, while his ODI achievements included the format's second double-hundred.

He scored 8,586 runs, at an average of 49.34. He also plundered 8,273 runs at an average of 35.06.

He scored 1173 runs in 22 first-class matches at an average of 37.84, with three centuries since his last India match.