NEW DELHI (TIP): Virender Sehwag, the former swashbuckling Indian opener, was felicitated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday (December 3) ahead of the fourth India-South Africa Test in Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. Sehwag had a word of gratitude for his father for allowing him to play the sport and his captains, coaches and friends.

“I want to thank my father for allowing me to play the game of cricket and giving me freedom to do whatever I wanted to. All my coaches, especially AN Sharma for making me the cricketer I am. I want to thank my first captain Ajay Jadeja and other captains Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble. I want to thank Sachin Tendulkar. I would also like to thank all my fans for standing by me in my good and bad times,” the 37-year-old said.

Anurag Thakur, the BCCI secretary, was present at the venue and presented Sehwag with a silver plaque commemorating his stellar achievements and contributions to Indian cricket. Sehwag called time on his glorious international career with over 8,000 runs in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI).

Reputed to take on the bowlers irrespective of the format of the game, Sehwag occupies top three spots in the list of highest individual Test scores by Indians, with two triple centuries and a 293. He is also one of the only four batsmen around the world to have notched up two scores in excess of 300.