'Cricket has helped me earn the love of my countrymen'

Virender Sehwag is the first Indian to score a triple century in Test cricket. He achieved the feat against Pakistan in 2004.

I had to play cricket. What else could I have done? It is the game I had always wanted to play after watching Sachin Tendulkar in action.

Cricket has given me everything possible that I could have asked for. It has helped me earn the love of my countrymen. In my time, during my formative years, Sportstar was a much-loved magazine.

We would wait for the magazine every week and look for whatever had been written about us. It was a superb magazine and I took pride whenever I found my name in it.

The magazine had some senior writers and praise from them would be a huge motivation.

Sportstar was my favourite magazine and it was the best of the lot. I still have some issues in my collection. It is great to know that Sportstar has crossed 40 years of service to sport. I wish Sportstar all the best.

(As told to Vijay Lokapally)