I was confident about striking form, says Sehwag
Delhi Daredevils skipper Virender Sehwag says his prolonged lean patch never bothered him and he was confident of getting back to his elements. "I have never seen anybody who can flop in 10-12 games. So that's why I was very confident that I was one innings away from coming back to form," he said.
Delhi Daredevils skipper Virender Sehwag says his prolonged lean patch never bothered him and he was confident of getting back to his elements.
The swashbuckling batsman struggled to score runs till he cracked a 27-ball 50 to guide Delhi to a four-wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians in the last league match on Thursday.
"I have never seen anybody who can flop in 10-12 games. So that's why I was very confident that I was one innings away from coming back to form. I am very happy with the way I made the runs," Sehwag said.
Sehwag, who has scored 159 runs in 10 matches in the Twenty20 tournament so far, also feels getting into form was quite important before his team locks horn with the Deccan Chargers in the second semi-final on Friday.
"It was very important for my team that I hit form before the semi-finals. I was batting like I normally bat. It was good that I was able to make 50 off 35 or 36 balls," he told IPL's official website.
The skipper is also happy as their experiments with the opening slot got them positive results and praised his batting line-up which has stood out in the tournament so far.
"We tried a couple of things after we got sure of a semi-final berth. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't. Today (Thursday) we tried David Warner. He and Gauti gave us a good start. In three overs we got 36 runs. After that I carried on and played my shots.
"I am not in form, so there is no point for me to go out and open. Gautam and Warner have given us good starts in couple of games. I am very happy about that," Sehwag said.
"It's pretty good to have six batsmen who have the experience of international cricket. They can then handle the pressure of IPL," he added.
Sehwag also praised the members of the bowling department who have made them count during the trying moments in the tournament.
"Ashish Nehra is our main bowler. He was rested because he won't be able to play back to back games as his body is like that, susceptible to injuries. It is heartening to note that our other two bowlers -- (Pradeep) Sangwan and (Avishkar) Salvi -- are doing very well," he said.
Sehwag gave thumbs down to the idea of more foreign players in the domestic event.
"This is Indian Premier League and not an International Premier League. So it's better more Indian players play in this IPL," he said.