Bestowed the sobriquet of 'Sultan of Multan' after his triple ton in Pakistan, Virender Sehwag carved a niche for himself with his great hand-eye coordination to become India's most destructive opening batsman of the modern era.
Sehwag has registered 23 hundreds and 32 fifties in Test matches, while his 15 tons and 38 fifties were also delightful knocks in ODIs.
He is one of only two players in the world to score a double hundred in ODIs and a triple hundred in Test Cricket, the other being Chris Gayle.
He bagged 40 Test wickets and 96 scalps in the ODI format. His career though ended on a disappointing note after he was dropped from the Indian squad post the second Test against Australia in March 2013 and could never find his way back.
In April 2009, Sehwag became the only Indian to be honoured as the Wisden leading Cricketer in the World for his performance in 2008, subsequently becoming the first player of any nationality to retain the award for 2009.
Sehwag's pep talk to Akhtar is also well chronicled when the Jat from Haryana told the Rawalpindi Express that "Beta beta hota hai, baap baap hota hai", while referring to Sachin Tendulkar's famous hook shot against the speedster.
The 'Nawab of Najafgarh' recently switched loyalties, to captain the Haryana state side in Ranji Trophy.