Virender Sehwag is likely to be back in the Indian eleven for the ODI against Sri Lanka here on Wednesday. And he plans to retain his style of batsmanship.
He said here on Tuesday, “My method of playing is to show a little respect to the new ball and then go after the bowling, depending on who is bowling. If someone is bowling well, you have got to give him some respect.”
On his impending return to the eleven, the marauder from Delhi added, “They (the team-management) will decide on it tomorrow. We want to give a break at some stage to the top three batsmen. Gautam (Gambhir) or Tendulkar will take rest on Wednesday and maybe I can play.”
Since the next World Cup would be staged in these parts in 2015, it was important that the younger cricketers got match experience under these conditions now, Sehwag revealed. This, he explained, was the reason for India's rotation policy.
On India's bowling combination for the match the Indian vice-captain said, “If the pitch is dry, we would play two spinners. Maybe Perth is different and we can, probably, play three or even four fast bowlers here.”
Queried about India's strategy in Melbourne where the side played three spinners, he said, “It's a strategy which the captain and coach decided, especially in big grounds such as the MCG, where the wicket was dry and the ball was stopping and coming on to the bat. Sometimes a plan works and sometimes it doesn't.”
Sehwag said the Indian team was working hard on fielding. “The young boys have great energy,” he said.
He said the triangular series here was an open one and added, “In one-day cricket anyone can beat anyone. You have to play well for 100 overs in the ODIs.”
Sehwag said members of the Indian team were praying for Yuvraj Singh, who is recovering from cancer.
Sri Lankan vice-captain Angelo Mathews conceded there had been a few problems on the issue of payment to cricketers over the last 10 months. The all-rounder also said the players were not in the know when Geoff Marsh was sacked as coach.
He said although India was bludgeoned by Australia in Tests, “they could come back hard at us in the ODIS. They are the World Cup winners and form a good one-day side.”
On Mahela Jayawardene taking over as captain, Mathews said, “Mahela took over the job to steady the ship. He has mentioned that he wouldn't be captaining for long. It's the correct decision from Mahela. He knows and reads the game well.”
He felt Sri Lanka's recent tour of South Africa would help the team since the pitches there, like the surfaces down under, were hard and bouncy.
