Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag is one of the most successful players in the history of Indian cricket. Hailing from Najafgarh Delhi, fans used to call him ‘Najafgarh ka Nawab’ for his royal playing style, but after his historic triple century against Pakistan in Multan, he became ‘Multan ka Sultan.’
Born on October 20, 1978, in Najafgarh Delhi, Sehwag made his India debut in 1999 against Pakistan in an ODI match. He made his first-class debut with the Delhi Ranji team in 1997. Sehwag played a total of 14-years for India and went on to score more than 17,000 runs in international cricket.
Sehwag is the only Indian cricketer to score two triple centuries in Test cricket, 309 against Pakistan in 2004 and 319 against South Africa in 2008.
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How Sehwag became ‘Multan ka Sultan?’
17 years ago in 2004, when India toured Pakistan, no one could have imagined that a 26-year boy from Delhi will be thrashing the world-class bowling attack of Pakistan. The rivalry between India and Pakistan were at peak. In the first test match at Multan, Indian team led by Rahul Dravid chose to bat first against Pakistan and Sehwag was batting fearlessly against the Pakistani bowling attack which included the likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Razzaq, Saqlain Mushtaq, and Md Sami. Despite that, he scored 309 runs, smashing bowlers all over the park. With Sehwag’s 309 and Tendulkar’s unbeaten 194 runs, India had the match in their pockets and went on to beat Pakistan by an innings and 52 runs.
After scoring such monstrous triple hundred, people started calling him the Sultan of Multan.
Later in 2008, against South Africa, Sehwag smashed another triple-ton, as he became the fastest batsman to score 300 in 274 balls. Sehwag went on to score 319 runs in that match.