Sehwag

Calcutta/Perth: Mostly a failure this Australian summer, opener Virender Sehwag will return to the team for Wednesday’s match against Sri Lanka after being ‘rested’ in 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 during the Perth Test 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 is to give little respect to the 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 the MCG on Sunday, but will be back either at the expense of Sachin Tendulkar or Gautam Gambhir, most likely the latter.

“We will decide on it tomorrow (Wednesday). We want to give a break to the top-three batsmen, either Gautam (Gambhir) or Tendulkar will take a break and may be I can play,” he said.

Sehwag said the top-order rotation was largely intended to give an opportunity to the youngsters to get used to the conditions keeping in mind that the next World Cup will be staged here in 2015.

“The break is good... You are playing Tests, then Twenty20s and now ODIs. The body can be fatigued and a mental break is also good. So the top-three can get a break and all the youngsters can play and they need to because they have just arrived.

“We want to give a chance to the youngsters. The next World Cup is here, all the youngsters this way can play and get used to the conditions here,” Sehwag said.

“It’s important the youngsters play a lot more ODIs… especially when the World Cup comes, they should have played 70-80 ODIs. That’s our aim, to give more chance to the youngsters.”

All the members of the Indian team, Sehwag said, were praying for the recovery of Yuvraj Singh.

“We are hoping he would be fine and fit when he comes back. We all are praying for him.

Another Indian strategy, visible thus far in shorter formats of the game, is to play three spinners in the playing XI though it could boomerang on the bouncy WACA pitch.

“We are clear about one thing from Day One — we would play with two spinners if the pitch is dry...May be Perth is different, we can play three or even four fast bowlers here,” he said.

This Indian strategy of playing spinners is different from the last World Cup where India won the title by playing three seamers and a spinner.

“It’s a strategy which the captain and coach decide. Especially in big grounds such as the MCG, where the wicket was dry and the ball was stopping and coming on to the bat... It sometimes works and sometimes it doesn’t.

“In India, it’s difficult for the spinners to bowl in Powerplays. But then (Ravichandran) Ashwin and Harbhajan (Singh) played together against Australia in the quarter finals.”

The match could see the return of Zaheer Khan who hasn’t played either in two Twenty20s or the first ODI in MCG. Zaheer bowled at nets at WACA and Sehwag said he was available for selection.

India is up against a team whom they beat to claim the 2011 World Cup last year. Sri Lanka have introduced quite a few youngsters in their squad who are beginning to do well for them.

“I haven’t seen them. In a way, it’s good when you are playing against youth. You can put more pressure on youth. We can understand when our youth are under pressure when they go out to bat so we could also put Sri Lankan youth under pressure,” Sehwag said.

“But in one-day cricket anyone can beat anyone. You could lose to Bangladesh. You have to play well for over 100 overs and only then you can win in ODIs.

“Especially in this triangular series, any team can beat any one where all the three teams are good. If you play well on that day, you could beat any side. We ourselves did so a couple of times last time, during the VB series.”

India’s fielding was found wanting in the last ODI match but Sehwag said it was one of those things and there’s nothing much to worry.