We will rotate the openers, says Sehwag

Sacramento Sun (IANS) Tuesday 7th February, 2012

India opener Virender Sehwag said Tuesday the team will be rotating opening batsmen and in Wednesday's second ODI against Sri Lanka he would be replacing Sachin Tendulkar or Gautam Gambhir. Sehwag said the rotation policy is designed to give youngsters more opportunity, keeping in mind the 2015 World Cup.

Sehwag, who was rested in the first ODI against Australia, will be taking the field Wednesday and is likely to replace Gambhir.

"They will decide on it (opening combination) tomorrow. We want to give a break to the top three batsmen, either Gautam (Gambhir) or Tendulkar will take a break and maybe I can play," he said.

Sehwag said the rotation policy is designed to give the youngsters an opportunity keeping in mind the 2015 World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

"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, 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 chance to youngsters. The next World Cup is here. All the youngsters this way can play and get used to the conditions here," Sehwag said.

Sehwag said it is very important for the youngsters to play 70-80 ODIs before the World Cup.

"It's important; the youngsters have to play a lot more ODIs, especially when the World Cup comes, they should have played 70-80 ODIs. Our aim is to give more chances to youngsters," he said.

Sehwag said he would be back to his usual attacking mode in the ongoing tri-series here.

"I tried to play a little differently in 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," Sehwag said.

"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.

Sehwag said India may play three or even four fast bowlers against Sri Lanka.

"We are clear about one thing from Day One - we would play with two spinners if the pitch is dry. Maybe Perth is different; we can play three or even four fast bowlers here. It's a strategy which the captain and coach decided, especially in big grounds such as the MCG, where the wicket was dry and the ball was stopping and coming on to the bat. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't."

"In India it's difficult for spinners to bowl in powerplays. But then (Ravichandran) Ashwin and Harbhajan (Singh) played together against Australia in the quarter-finals," he said.