Aaryavir Sehwag, son of Virender Sehwag, revealed after his DPL 2026 innings that his father gives him a batting tip no coaching manual would recommend.
“My dad tells me to sing songs when I bat… but I’m not doing that just yet.”
Aaryavir Sehwag, DPL T20 interview, August 2026
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The 18-year-old scored 22 off 14 balls with four boundaries for West Delhi Lions against New Delhi Tigers at Arun Jaitley Stadium on August 19. He opened the batting and put on a 41-run stand before getting dismissed. West Delhi Lions chased down 196 in a six-wicket win.
The advice sounds like a joke. It is not. Virender Sehwag sang Bollywood songs at the crease throughout his international career, and it was the core of how he batted.
“Songs come to my mind while playing because I think too much… I should think less, sing songs as you need to remember the rhythm and lyrics.”
Virender Sehwag, on why he sings while batting
Sehwag had a system. When runs flowed, he sang Bollywood tracks like “Chittiyan Kalaiyaan.” When he struggled, he switched to devotional bhajans. His favourite was “Chala Jaata Hoon” from the film Mere Jeevan Saathi. During the 2005 Bangalore Test against Pakistan, where he scored 201 off 262 balls, Yasir Hameed standing at short leg asked him to sing a Kishore Kumar song. Sehwag obliged mid-innings. He once called the 12th man to the field not for water or a new glove, but to help him remember lyrics.
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Every coaching manual tells a batter to focus harder. Watch the ball. Read the bowler’s wrist. Pick the length early. Sehwag found the opposite: the more he thought about the bowling, the worse he batted.
Singing forced his brain to process lyrics instead of deliveries. That left his hands and eyes to do what they had trained to do for years. No conscious decision on which shot to play. Pure reaction. That is exactly what he is now telling Aaryavir. Occupy your mind with something else and let your training take over.
Aaryavir is not there yet. His own method is conventional: he repeats “watch the ball, play straight” in his head while batting. In the 2024 Cooch Behar Trophy, he scored 297 off 309 balls against Meghalaya. His father’s response: 23 more runs and he would have earned a Ferrari. He has now played two DPL seasons, moving from Central Delhi Kings in 2025 to West Delhi Lions this year.
He listens to his father. He respects the advice. He is just not singing yet.
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