Kolkata, December 23: India’s stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag today said he was unfazed by the burden of captaincy and his job was to provide a flying start to the team.
Addressing a pre-match press conference ahead of the fourth ODI of the ongoing five-match series against Sri Lanka, the swashbuckling batsman said, ”I don’t feel pressurized by the burden of captaincy and my job is to givethe team a good start.” ”When Dhoni leads the side, I advise him on several occasions, now it’s my turn to receive the same from other players,” he added.
Sehwag as a captain has an even-steven record. He led India in six matches and emerged victorious thrice.
India will be without the service of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh in this match with former serving a two-match ban and the latter was ruled out of the series due to his finger injury.
Elaborating on this aspect, Sehwag said, ”They are natural players. We will definitely miss them, but at the same time it also gives us an opportunity to test our bench strength ahead of the World Cup 2011.”
Talking about the pitch and dew factor at Eden Garden, Sehwag said, ”Eden has always been a high scoring wicket and we chased down 300 plus score sucessfully against Pakistan last time we played here.” ”Hopefully, we will win the toss and field first to negate the dew factor,” he added.
Sehwag also said the best way to stop the high-flying Tillakratne Dilshan was to get him out early. Following renovation work for World Cup 2011, the Eden Garden will lose around 50 per cent of its capacity.
When asked whether the team will miss the crowd support, the Delhi dasher replied, ”Obviously, we will miss the Eden crowd, but when people come to enjoy the World cup matches they feel comfortable once the renovation is done.”
–Agencies