New Delhi: A day before his 37th birthday, dashing Indian opening batsmen Virender Sehwag hinted at retiring from international cricket in order to play in next year’s Masters Champions League, a UAE-based Twenty20 tournament where only retired players can participate. Sehwag said this at the launch of Masters Champions League (MCL) in Dubai.

And on his birthday, the cricketer, who redefined the opening slot with his swashbuckling batting, bid adieu to international cricket, saying he has no regrets with his career.

Sehwag’s decision comes a few days days after pacer Zaheer Khan announced his retirement from international cricket. Sehwag was part of the 2011 World Cup winning squad and has several cricket records to his name.

If he retires, it will bring down the curtains on a remarkable career in which he scored 17,253 international runs across formats. Sehwag is the only Indian batsman to score a triple-century in Tests, and he did it twice. With 8,586 runs from 104 Test matches, Sehwag stands fifth in India's all time list.

In ODI's, he scored 8,273 runs with 15 centuries, including the second-highest score of 219. In 19 Twenty20 internationals, the right-handed maestro made 394 runs. Besides, Sehwag also took 40 wickets in Test and 96 in ODI's.

Sehwag went on to revolutionise the opener's approach, and his strike-rate of 82.23 is the best for any batsman to aggregate over 2000 runs. The 2003-04 season was a breakthrough one for him, with 1040 run in nine Tests, including 195 on day one of the MCG Test and India's first triple century, a 375-ball 309 against Pakistan at
Multan.

Sehwag was a part of the Indian team that reached the final of the 2003 ICC World Cup and lifted the 2011 edition. In Twenty20 internationals, he was a member of the side that lifted the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in 2007. He occasionally captained India in 12 ODIs scattered between 2003 and 2012 and four Tests from 2005 to 2012. He led India in their maiden T20I too, at Johannesburg in 2006.

His last Test was in March 2013 against Australia in Hyderabad, while his last ODI came against Pakistan in January 2013. He lost his place in the T20 team in 2012.