Perth: Mostly a failure this Australian summer, dashing Indian opener Virender Sehwag will return to the team for tomorrow’s match against Sri Lanka after being ‘rested’ from the opening ODI and has vowed to be his usual attacking self in the ongoing tri-series here.
Sehwag was ‘rested’ from the opening ODI against Australia which India lost by 65 runs in Melbourne on Sunday.
“I tried to play a little differently in Perth because the ball was doing something. It didn’t work so I went back to my own style. I will do so in ODIs as there are only 50 overs and you want to give a good start to the team,” said Sehwag who smashed 219 runs in his last one-day innings — against the West Indies in Indore last year.
“My style of playing is to give little respect to new ball and then go after the bowling, depending on who’s bowling. If someone is bowling well, you have got to give him respect,” he added.
In the third Test in Perth, Sehwag made 0 and 10 in two innings, which was largely symbolic of the miserable summer the Indian opener has had in Australia in the last few weeks.
Sehwag was rested for the first ODI against Australia at MCG on Sunday but returns to the fold — either at the expense of Sachin Tendulkar or Gautam Gambhir, most likely the latter.
“They will decide on it tomorrow. We want to give break to the top three batsmen, either Gautam (Gambhir) or Tendulkar will take a break and may be I can play,” he said.
Meanwhile, plagued by poor batting form for long, a jittery India will need to strike the right combination and lift the standard of their game as they strive to bring their ODI tri-series campaign back on track.
India let Australia off the hook in the opening match in Melbourne and missing out on an opportunity in tomorrow’s crucial clash would make the job very tough for them.
India’s bowling line-up is sure to have a new look on a bouncy WACA pitch. It would be not be prudent to include a spin-based attack. Either Ravinder Jadeja or Ravichandran Ashwin, or both, could make way for Umesh Yadav and possibly Zaheer Khan.
In Australia, the two teams have clashed five times and India has an advantage of 2-1 over their southern neighbours, with two matches finishing with no result.
India still feels the pain of their last visit to WACA last month when they lost the third Test to Australia in two and a half days by an innings margin. It’s record at this venue though isn’t too bad. It has won three games and lost five matches since 1980 when it first played New Zealand in a triangular and won by five runs.
The fast outfield and less-than a steepling bounce enables big scores to be managed at this ground.
Five wins each in the last 10 ODIs between the two sides might suggest an even battle between two sub-continental teams but ever so quietly, the young brigade has begun to make headlines for Sri Lanka in the last few months. PTI
The trio of Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne and Thisara Perera are all 22-year-olds but are already seen as a very dangerous quotient in Sri Lanka’s resurgence who chased down two near 300-plus scores against South Africa last month. (PTI)
