Beyond The Boundary: Why did Virender Sehwag play with a numberless jersey in the 2011 World Cup?

As World Cup euphoria grips the nation, former India batter Virender Sehwag lets Fever RJ Sharat in on lesser-known cricket trivia

In an interview with Fever FM’s Sharat Bhattatiripad, former India opener Virender Sehwag revealed that at the start of his career, he was given a jersey with the number 44, which originally belonged to Sairaj Bahutule. Sehwag taped up Bahutule’s name and played in that jersey. Later, his mother, likely after consulting an astrologer, advised him to switch to number 46. After he got married, Sehwag’s wife Aarti, who is into astrology and numerology, was told that 46 wasn’t suitable for him and that he should wear number 2 instead.

Virender Sehwag played with no number on his jersey during the 2011 World Cup

This, Sehwag jokes, created a situation where wearing either number would upset either his mum or his wife. Interestingly, neither of these numbers brought him luck, and he was dropped from the team in 2007. Sehwag then decided to play in a numberless jersey to avoid upsetting either of them. The decision seemed to work, with India winning the World Cup in 2011!

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