Former Indian Test cricketer VVS Laxman on Friday paid a heart warming tribute to his team mate and one of India's greatest openers Virender Sehwag, saying the former swashbuckling opener had immense self-belief and positivity which was both "mind-boggling and infectious".


"Cocking a snook at those who questioned his pedigree against high-quality fast bowling, Virender Sehwag went on to establish himself as one of the most destructive openers in Test history. Viru's immense self-belief and positivity was as mind-boggling as it was infectious," Laxman said in a tweet.

Sehwag, hailed as one of the most destructive Test openers to have ever played the sport, represented India in 104 Tests, 251 ODIs and 19 T20Is in which he racked up 8586, 8273 and 394 runs respectively. The 41-year-old right handed batsman has the unique distinction of being the first Indian batsman to score a triple hundred in Test cricket.

Sehwag, who was known to be a fearsome opener considering his dashing strokeplay had the penchant to score some daddy tons in Test cricket. During India's tour of Pakistan in 2006, Sehwag was at his lethal best annihilating the Pakistani attack to all corners of the park during the Test series and also bringing up his maiden Test triple ton in Multan.

Besides his run scoring exploits in Test, Sehwag also scored a whirlwind 219 in an ODI against the West Indies in Indore in 2011, which was only the second ODI double-hundred at the time, and the highest ever score in ODIs until current India opener Rohit Sharma blazed past it during his epic 264 in late 2014.

Laxman has been paying tributes to some of the cricketers he's played alongside and who had an influence on him and his career. Apart from Sehwag, he has so far paid tributes to Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath.