I am ready to make a comeback into the Indian team: Sehwag
New Delhi:NDTV: A day before the announcement of the Indian squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka on Wednesday, Virender Sehwag, the India opener, has said that he is ready to make a comeback in the Indian team.
“Absolutely yes (I am ready to make a comeback in the Indian team). The new season will start soon and I’ve been to NCA (National Cricket Academy) and done all my fitness assessment and now I’m working hard on my fitness,” said Sehwag to NDTV.
The Delhi batsman is expected to be included in the team for the Sri Lanka tour. He had been nursing a shoulder injury and missed the Asia Cup.
Being at the NCA Sehwag also met up with team-mate Yuvraj Singh, who has been training there after recovering from a rare germ-cell cancer. Viru revealed that Yuvi is working hard but it will still be at least two months before he can make a comeback.
“I think he (Yuvraj) is shaping up very well. He is working hard. He is very keen. He was batting in the nets, you know trying to bowl in the nets, you know field but still I feel I think he’ll take time, one or two months. He is working very hard so hopefully he’ll be fine in another two months,” said Sehwag.
India are scheduled to play both England and Australia – the teams that beat India 4-0 last year – this season but Viru refused to bill it as revenge series.
“It’s not revenge but every year either you go and play against them or they will come and play at your place so it’s not revenge but it’s a good contest. It’s a very good teams and England and Australia, they are coming here and now England are No. 1 – it’s a challenge for us,” he said.
Sehwag also had a word of advice for former India team-mate Rahul Dravid who confessed a few days ago, that he would be open to coaching the Indian team in the near future and who is reportedly being considered for the role of the India U-19 coach.
“I think he played more than 150 Test matches so he understands each and every part of the game and he know how to plan, how to make the strategy and how to you know get 100 percent from the boys. So I think let’s see what will happen when he take over as U-19 coach and how you know he will motivate himself to be a coach because it’s a very difficult job to train a young kid or to be a coach of a young team.”
Sehwag, who runs his own academy in Jhajjar, Haryana, added that the tendency to pin the blame for defeats on the coach makes the job all that more difficult.
“If team does well, then the captain will get the credit. If the team doesn’t do well, then coach gets sacked,” said the swashbuckling batsman in his trademark outspoken style.
Sehwag also had a wishlist of things he would want from the newly appointed Rajya Sabha member – Sachin Tendulkar.
“I know what he will do. I know he will do whatever he needs to do for sports. If he want do one thing is that improve the other sports facilities as well. Cricket is big in India but if he can improve other sports facilities and push government to do that I think you will see a lot of athletes taking gold medals or silver medals in Olympics or in Commonwealth Games,” Sehwag, a very good friend of Sachin, said.
Viru also revealed that he enjoyed watching Olympic sports such as wrestling and boxing and also kept tabs on Saina Nehwal’s results in badminton.
Sehwag was on Tuesday unvelied as the first Indian ambassador of FILA, a sportswear brand. He said he was proud to be associated with the brand that has in the past been endorsed by F1 legend Michael Schumacher and tennis great Boris Becker, who he was a big fan of as a child.
