Former Indian opening batsman Virender Sehwag predicted hosts-led by Virat Kohli will convincingly win the second Test and inside four days at Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) in Nagpur, in a bid to take a lead of 1-0 of the three-match Test series.
“I feel that India will wrap up the second Test match against Sri Lanka in four days,” Sehwag told India Tv.
In a programme of ‘Cricket Ki Baat’, Sehwag revealed India would dominate Sri Lanka in the Nagpur Test while adding the pitch will suit the hosts’ bowlers.
“It depends all on the toss as the surface will help the Indian bowlers,” Sehwag added.
The 38-year-old Sehwag, who has been with the India TV panel as a cricket expert played 104 Tests for India in which he amassed 8,586 runs at an average of 49.31.
Moreover, the former right-handed batsman Sehwag also backed Kohli, who remarked the lack of performance has been a pertinent question.
“Kohli was right to point out that the team hasn’t got enough time to prepare for the South Africa tour,” Sehwag maintained.
Sehwag reiterated the overseas tour to South Africa is vital for Team India while adding the team has been a strong force to reckon with the recent performances, as according to him many are waiting to witness the challenge.
“South Africa is an important tour for Team India as the people are waiting for a tougher challenge. Since India hasn’t lost a series yet in a while, the people are waiting to criticize the team”, Sehwag added.
Sehwag believes it’s the poor planning of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) while revealing a couple of weeks would have been enough for the national side in a bid to acclimatise to the conditions.
Sehwag further went on to suggest that there should be involvement of players when it comes to the preparation of the fixtures while explaining the former players could be an imperative role in this regard.
“We as players feel that the team management and the players should be involved when the fixtures are made. Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid used to ask before a tour and ask for practice”. Sehwag concluded.
Earlier, in the first Test, Sri Lanka team forced India to draw the Test even after dramatic turnaround in the last two sessions of the final day’s play in Kolkata when Sri Lanka lost seven wickets before bad light came into the play.
As the hosts are in control after the stumps of day one of the second Test in Nagpur, the hosts’ spinners in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shared seven wickets, as fast bowler Ishant Sharma bagged three wickets to restrict Lions on 205 in 79.1 overs.
VIDEO OF THE DAY:
At stumps, India was 11 for one in eight overs while trailing by 194 runs.