Virender Sehwag has decided to rein in his natural agressive instincts a bit so as not to throw away good starts as in the past.
MUMBAI: Virender Sehwag has decided to rein in his natural agressive instincts a bit so as not to throw away good starts as in the past when he re-enters the international cricket arena through the Twenty20 World Cup starting in South Africa in two days' time.
"I have been doing yoga training. I want to control my game and aggression during the match days and hopefully I will do well," said the Delhi marauder on the eve of his departure to Johannesburg along with four other teammates.
Sehwag reiterated that he was going to perform well in the tournament which is concluding on September 24 and get back into the Indian one-day and Test side.
"I have been out of the team since the tour of Bangladesh. I am excited at playing for India in the Twenty20 World Cup. I have been working at my batting and fitnes. Hopefully I will perform well and get back into the Test and ODI side."
Sehwag did not agree the tournament was a make or break thing for him.
"My job is to perform and the rest is up to the selectors. I am worried only about my performance."
Sehwag, Haryana's Joginder Sharma, Irfan and Yousuf Pathan of Baroda and Kerala pacer S Sreesanth, along with Cricket Manager Lalchand Rajput and Administrative Manager Sunil Dev are to depart for South Africa in the early hours of Monday morning.
The majority of the squad, to be led for the first time by wicket keeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni, are to land in South Africa straight away from England. The list also includes Harbhajan Singh who was playing county cricket.
On his preparations for the tournament, Sehwag said he had practiced with synthetic balls on cement courts as the wickets in South Africa could be pacy and bouncy.
"I have been practicing with synthetic balls on cement courts to get used to the bounce. I have also practiced against yorker (length) balls as in Twenty20 cricket when the bowlers get thrashed to all parts of the park they are bound to resort to bowling yorkers and bouncers," he explained.
On the absence of seniors like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid from the team, Sehwag said at some time or the other new faces, who need to step into the shoes of these famous cricketers.
"At some stage in future new faces have to come into the team. People used to wonder when Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev were playing whether they can be replaced. It's good that youngsters are getting chances which will stand them in good stead when they have to assume bigger responsibilities," said Sehwagthe batsman who is going to open in South Africa.
Sehwag said it was important to play out twenty overs as he had witnessed while playing the game in English county cricket, that teams in quest for quick runs from the start, tende to lose three or four wickets and then get all out inside the quota.
He also said there were no firm favourites as anyone can beat any other team in this version, but still "Australia have won the last three (50-overs-per-side) World Cups and should be seen as slight favourites".
Sehwag felt the absence of Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar will help India when they play against their arch-rivals in the league tie on September 14.
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