World Cup 2011: Viru promises Bangladesh payback

Sehwag said that Team India was confident and every player would give their best to enhance India’s chances of winning the coveted trophy.

Zeecric Bureau

Bangalore: India’s vice-captain Virender Sehwag said that the team was confident of winning and every player would give their best to enhance Team India’s chances of winning the coveted trophy. He was also aware of last World Cup’s mistakes and said the team would keep Bangladesh upset in their mind when facing them this year. “We are confident to win. I’m looking forward to the World Cup. I’ve been practicing at home at NCA, hopefully I’ll do well. I was lucky to get a break and it has helped my game. This is Gary’s last World Cup, we’ll try to give him something he can cheer for life. It would be wrong to make a statement that we would win the World Cup, I would say that we will give our best,” Sehwag said at a press conference ahead of the third day of Team India’s World Cup training. Sehwag added that the team was focussed and he was putting in his best saying, “My job is to give a good start, I’ll try to do my best so we can give a big total. We will give 100% in the World Cup. If we give our best, I think the result will be in our favour.” Sehwag was wary of the fiasco in 2007 World Cup and sounded a warning to Bangladesh, hinting at a severe payback of the loss that saw the men in blue returning home early on from the Caribbean in the last edition saying, “We did well in 2003, we did not do that well in 2007, and we have discussed the positives of those two tournaments. We have a lot of explosive batsmen in our team and any one can win the game for us if they click. We will try to utilise the practise games to the maximum. Bangladesh can upset anyone in the world like they did to us in 2007; we have that at the back of our mind.”"I think I have never played 50 overs in one-day cricket. The maximum I have played is 43 or 44 overs. But this time I will try to bat 50 overs and give a good start to the team. I have been unsuccessfully trying this for the last 10 years and the effort is still on and will be there," Sehwag told reporters in an open media session ahead of the mega-event starting February 19. Expectations are sky high but Sehwag says he does not feel the pressure as he his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten have asked him to play his natural game no matter what the situation. "I think nobody is telling me what to do, that`s the good part of our team. The coach and captain just allow me to bat the way I bat. So, they are not putting any pressure on me. They said you just go and play your natural game. If you score runs we are happy and if you don`t score runs then also we are happy," Sehwag said. "My role is to go out there and enjoy myself and give a good start to the team. If I score 20 runs in 10 balls or 100 in 70, 80 balls I am happy with that," he added. The 32-year-old`s trademark style is to go after the bowling from the word go, but he said he has slightly toned down his aggressive instincts. "For the last three years, I was in a good frame of mind. I have changed a little bit. Now I give respect to the new ball. I make sure that I spend four-five overs before taking on the bowlers and try to give a good start.” "I know that I have Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina in the middle-order, so I can go after the bowling straight from the first ball. But now I am trying to look for three-four overs and ensure that I give a good start to the team," Sehwag said. Senior batsman Yuvraj Singh was also present for the press conference and answered queries on his form and team’s preparations. “We got a lot of home support. We have a lot of choices for the slots in the team and that is a good thing. We have to stay clear of distractions and do our best.” Yuvraj also said that he was not intimidated by other players in the dressing room and neither had any worries on facing in-form bowlers. “I’ve played 260 matches, if there was any fear factor, I would have been out of the team long back. I’m only thinking of how I can contribute to the team. You are bound to have a lean patch in your career, ups and downs are a part and parcel. I’m just looking to change my form for the better for the World Cup,” Yuvi added.On a lighter note, Yuvraj said that the team had indeed got big hitters and there was no competition among them on who hits the maximum sixes. “Everyone is a sixer king in this team, Yusuf is far ahead of me at the moment as the sixer specialist, and our motive is to win at all costs, not just hitting sixes. If we get a good start from Viru, we have a good run-rate to work it, if that doesn’t happen we have to consolidate,” Yuvraj added. India start their World Cup campaign against Bangladesh at Dhaka on Feb 19.