Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag claimed that MS Dhoni would have dropped him unless Sachin Tendulkar motivated him. Notably, Sehawg didn't have a great outing since the 2007-2008 Commonwealth Bank Series. He played five matches but scored just 81 runs, with 33 being his highest. He was then dropped for the last three matches, and India defeated Sri Lanka and then Australia in the final. He was out from the team for almost six months and then came in the Kitply Cup, where he smacked 150 runs including two fifties. The 2011 World Cup, which looked distant to Sehwag, became possible. However, behind the comeback, Sehwag said, it was his opening partner, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who planted the seed of belief in him. In a recent interview, Sehwag revealed how demoralized he was when MS dropped him from the XI. He said, “In the 2007-08 series in Australia, I played the first three (five) matches and then MS Dhoni dropped me from the side. I wasn’t picked for a while after that. Then I felt that if I can’t be a part of the playing XI, then there was no point in my playing ODI cricket." Read also: BCCI to announce Asia Cup Squad mid August; No Jaiswal in UAE: Reports Speaking about Tendulkar's words, Sehwag added, "Then I went to Tendulkar and said, ‘I am thinking of retiring from ODIs’. He said, ‘No, I went through a similar phase in 1999-2000, where I felt I should leave cricket. But that phase came and went. So, you are going through a trough, but it will pass. Don’t make any decision when you are emotional. Give yourself some time and 1-2 series, and then take a call.’ When that series ended, I played in the next series and made a lot of runs. I played the 2011 World Cup and we won the World Cup as well." Notably, Virender Sehwag finished his career having scored 8,273 runs across 251 international matches.