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Sourav Ganguly calls Virender Sehwag the greatest Indian opener after Sunil Gavaskar in the trailer for Netflix’s The Greatest Rivalry: India vs Pakistan. The series releases on February 7.
Sourav Ganguly picked the ‘greatest opener’ for him after Sunil Gavaskar.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly believes Virender Sehwag is the ‘greatest opener’ to have played for India after Sunil Gavaskar. His opinion was revealed in the trailer of the upcoming Netflix series, The Greatest Rivalry: India vs Pakistan, which will be released on February 7.
Netflix released the 2-minute and 13-second promotional video on their official social media handles on Wednesday, January 29. It went viral almost immediately and Ganguly’s big statement for Sehwag caught the eye of Indian cricket fans on social media. A screenshot of the statement is being shared widely.
“After Sunil Gavaskar, the greatest opener is Virender Sehwag,” Ganguly says in the trailer.
Sehwag, one of the world’s most entertaining openers renowned for his aggressive batting style, scored 8586 Test runs, 8273 ODI runs and 394 T20I runs for India. His exploits included 38 centuries and 70 half-centuries.
He’s the only batter in international cricket history to have scored 7,500-plus runs in both Tests & ODIs as an opener.
Meanwhile, Gavaskar, who played in the era where Test cricket was given the utmost importance, scored 10122 runs for India in the longest format and 3092 in ODIs. He is considered India’s first technically complete batter, who stood like a rock against the pace and spin greats of the world.
Pakistan team was adept at scratching up the new ball: Sehwag
In the trailer, Sehwag and Ganguly also spoke about Pakistan’s tactics to generate reverse swing and how the Men in Green’s bowlers used to hide their tricks.
“The whole Pakistan team is so adept at scratching up the new ball and generating reverse swing. Because even if the ball is scratched, torn, or worn on one side, it’s still shining on the other side. So, keep your eyes on the shiny side of the ball. If the hinge is on the left side, then it will swing outwards. If the shine is on the right side, the ball will swing inwards,” Sehwag said.
Ganguly added by saying, “They’d hide the ball while running. If you watch their action or their run-up, they’d keep it hidden so that the batsman doesn’t see the ball in front of them, and at the last minute there’d be a change.”
