Sehwag supports youngsters, India prepare for final against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758
India’s dashing opening batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429, who is in a rich vein of form in the ongoing tri series in Sri Lanka has backed his underperforming teammates. Even though, they struggled to get going in taxing batting conditions at the Rangiri International stadium in Dambulla.
Sehwag added that it took him a long time to establish himself at the international level, and to bring consistency in his game was a real challenge initially.
"When I was a youngster, it took me almost 50 to 70 innings to perform consistently, so we have to give more time to youngsters". The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780 dasher added that the team management was not overly worried about them as run scoring was a tough proposition at the venue, and many players from all participating teams have struggled greatly there. "We are not worried about them too much because in Dambulla, everybody's not scoring. We have to live with that and give youngsters some confidence and tell them to go out and spend some time at the wicket".
He opined that the only way to succeed at the wicket was to assert oneself over the opposition and ensure that all scoring opportunities are utilised as a batman is never settled due to the uneven nature of the wicket.
"It's very easy to say that you should leave the ball or hit it according to its merit but it's very difficult to react according to the merit of the ball".
He added that youngsters generally found it tough to handle the lateral movement and the uneven bounce on the track, “When we were young, it would have been confusing whether to hit or leave. It used to be tempting to hit and we used to get out in that confusion. It's important to either leave or play the balls outside off rather than defending them".
Sehwag has hit one century and was once left hanging on 99, in India’s two matches of the series and feels that batting becomes easy once the batsmen spends enough time on the wicket which would ideally mean a stay of 10-15 overs.
“If you see off the first 10-15 overs, it becomes easier to bat. But those first few overs are difficult to survive", he said. "If you see off the new ball (even) without scoring much in the first 15 overs, it helps the team a lot".
Interestingly, in the last two tournaments including the Tri-series the batsmen who have succeeded are stroke players. In the Asia Cup tournament it was Boom Boom Afridi, the Pakistani captain, who scored two majestic hundreds at well over a run a ball. His efforts got him the man of the tournament award in the event that was won by the Indians.
His performance and style of play was replicated by Sehwag, who also bats with g*y abandon giving scant respect to the opposition bowlers.
The level of his dominance can be gauged by the fact that in the two matches of the series where he failed, the Indians were rolled over, for scores of 88 and 103.
The 88-run effort was in the first match of the tournament, which the men in blue lost by a whopping margin of 200 runs. In their second match against Sri Lanka, India lost by 8 wickets.
The final of the tournament is set to be played tomorrow and Sehwag would once again remain pivotal to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750’s chances where none of their other batsmen have crossed fifty in four matches.
The final is also a repeat of the Asia Cup final where India prevailed over the hosts with consummate ease.
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