Will Viru play in Tuesday's match?

ADELAIDE: So was Virender Sehwag dropped or was he down with injury in Sunday’s clash at the Adelaide Oval. Indications are that he was fit enough to take the field against the world champions.

Dressing room sources say the Delhi opener’s injury was not serious enough to warrant rest. He was made to sit out because the team management wanted to go in with an extra batsman.

“Viru was fine. I don’t have any information to the contrary,” said a team member. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, however, maintained on Sunday night that “Viru was not fit enough”.

Even a national selector, who is here, confirmed that there was no major fitness issue with the opener. The official reason for his non-inclusion.

Sehwag has not exactly set the Indian Ocean ablaze but the dashing opener has been in better form than a few other batsmen in the team, particularly Yuvraj Singh, who had scored only 11 runs in three matches prior to Sunday’s contest.

Sehwag, one may recall, had scored a century at the same ground in the fourth and final Test. In four matches, Sehwag has scored 64 runs, with 33 as his highest score. He, however, was involved in good starts with Sachin Tendulkar on a couple of occasions.

There are no indications whether Sehwag would be played on Tuesday. The team management, one learns, wants to go in with five bowlers.

When asked specifically, Irfan Pathan — who attended the pre-match media conference on Monday — mumbled for some time before stating that he has no update on Sehwag’s fitness.

For his part, Sehwag remained silent, but did have a long stint at the nets on Monday evening.