‘I Didn’t Get The Freedom Of Virender Sehwag’ – Veteran India opener rips apart Indian management with bold claims

Former India opener Murali Vijay has been frank and forthcoming about his time with the team. After last representing India in 2018, Vijay’s options were limited. Vijay has recently spoken up about the indifferent treatment he received, especially in terms of support from the team management, when the book opened with Virender Sehwag being a member of India’s Test team for a significant amount of time. If the team management had supported him as Sehwag was, Vijay stated he could have attempted a few other things.

“Consciously, I didn’t get the freedom of Virender Sehwag to be honest. Whatever Sehwag got in his life, I didn’t. If I could have got that kind of backing and open-spreaded talks, I could have also tried. The honest thing is the team’s backing and how you can contribute to the team in the international level. It’s a high-level competition and you don’t have many chances to experiment in different ways,” Vijay said in a chat show with WV Raman on Sportstar.

Nobody else I feel could have played like Sehwag: Murali Vijay

Vijay also talked openly about his time playing with Sehwag. The seasoned batsman claimed that after seeing Sehwag bat in that manner, it was difficult for him to restrain his emotions. “When Sehwag was there, I felt controlling my instincts and playing was hard but to see him go through that kind of freedom was something spectacular,” the Indian opener stated.

“Only he could have done that. Nobody else I feel could have played like Sehwag. What he did for Indian cricket was amazing. Different… he is something else that I have seen visually. I had the privilege to interact with him. It was so simple. He kept his mantra so simple – See the ball and hit. He was in that mode; singing songs to 145-150 kph bowlers. You are experiencing something else. It’s not normal,” he further added.

After closing the Indian Cricket Board chapter, Vijay is now searching for chances abroad.