Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag was born on October 20, 1978, in Najafgarh, a rural settlement in southwest Delhi, India. Growing up in a large Jat family of grain merchants, Sehwag received a toy cricket bat at the age of seven months and honed his extraordinary hand-eye coordination with minimal footwork, adopting an unshakeable philosophy: 'See ball, hit ball'.

Making his Test debut against South Africa in Bloemfontein in 2001, Sehwag struck a sensational 105 batting alongside his idol Sachin Tendulkar. Promoted to open the innings by captain Sourav Ganguly, Sehwag dismantled opening bowling attacks worldwide. In March 2004, he made cricket history in Multan by smashing 309 against Pakistan—the first triple century ever scored by an Indian batsman, earning him the eternal moniker 'The Sultan of Multan'. He hit a six off Saqlain Mushtaq on 295 to bring up his triple century.

Four years later, in 2008, Sehwag repeated the feat in Chennai against South Africa, scoring 319 off just 304 balls—the fastest triple century in Test cricket history. He joined Sir Donald Bradman and Brian Lara as one of only four batsmen in history to score two Test triple centuries. Sehwag also struck an ODI double century (219 vs West Indies in 2011) and was instrumental in India winning the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup and the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2023.