Virender Sehwag becomes latest Indian cricketing star to join NFT bandwagon

Former India opener Virender Sehwag has become the latest cricketing icon from the country to join the NFT bandwagon. The 43-year-old World Cup-winning legend did so by announcing his partnership with NFT platform Rario.

Based on blockchain technology, NFTs or Non-fungible tokens give fans a chance to claim ownership of their favourite pieces of cricket history in a tangible and verifiable way.

While confirming the launch of his NFT, Sehwag said that he has always been open to innovation during his playing days; his thinking remains the same post-retirement as well. The explosive former batter was quoted as saying in an official release in this regard:

“During my playing days, I always tried to think out of the box, and come up with innovative solutions to improve my performance on the field and engage with my fans. Until a few years ago, one couldn’t have imagined it would be possible for fans to do more than watch the game from the stands or on television. With NFTs, they can participate and own historical moments in cricket, which is incredible. I believe this is a great step for me to be closer to my fans.”

Rario co-founder and CE, Ankit Wadhwa informed that they would be launching Sehwag’s NFT videos, cards and memorabilia, which would be must-haves for his fans. Wadhwa said about the former opener:

“We all have memories of Viru’s mega innings of 200s and 300s, and I doubt any of us have seen a more fluent player in our lifetime.”

Before Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Sunil Gavaskar and Zaheer Khan had announced their respective NFT collections.

On Monday, Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan also announced the launch of his NFT collection. Dhawan took to Instagram to make the announcement.

Wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik featured on India’s first-ever sports NFT. The NFT collection included the match-winning last-ball six he hit during the 2018 India-Bangladesh Nidahas Trophy final.

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Virender Sehwag’s notable records

Virender Sehwag is the first Indian batsman to hit triple a hundred in Test cricket. Overall, he is one of four players to score multiple triple hundreds in the longest format of the game.

He holds the record for the highest individual score for India in Test cricket - 319 against South Africa (Chennai Test, 2008).

Virender Sehwag needed only 278 deliveries to hit his second triple hundred (vs South Africa in Chennai, 2008). It's the fastest-ever triple hundred in terms of balls in Test cricket.

His 219 vs West Indies in Indore in 2011 is the highest individual score by a captain in ODI cricket.