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Sehwag lauds pacers after victory
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November 24, 2008 10:16 IST

Stressing that walking out with Sachin Tendulkar [Images] to open the innings is an honour for him, Virender Sehwag [Images] said the senior batsman's return gives more option to the side in the opening slot.

After missing the first three matches against England [Images], Tendulkar returned to the Indian side on Sunday, a move that saw Sehwag's regular opening partner Gautam Gambhir [Images] dropping down to the number three slot to accommodate the veteran batsman.

Though Tendulkar contributed only 11 runs, Sehwag said India now have enough options to rotate the three openers.

"Now I think we have quite a few good options. If I am not in good form, Gautam can open with Sachin and if Gautam is not in good form I can open with Sachin. Walking out to open with Sachin again is a honour to me," said the Indian vice-captain.

Though Sehwag himself won the man of the match award for his scintillating half-century, the opener praised the efforts of Indian seamers  -- Zaheer Khan [Images], Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel [Images] -  for helping India win the fourth match and clinch the ODI series 4-0.

"I think all the three fast bowlers did a wonderful job in shaping up the victory for us. Zaheer has been quite consistent in our recent wins while Ishant and Munaf bowled really well," Sehwag told reporters after the match.

According to him, the rain interruptions also favoured the hosts.

"I think the two stoppages due to rain helped us somewhat though we did not have any plans for that. We were confident that if the Duckworth-Lewis Method came into the picture we would have an advantage as we had scored around 106 runs for the loss of one wicket before the second interruption," he said.

Speaking about his attacking mood from the very first ball, Sehwag said nothing was planned as such but he went after the bowling only after seeing gaps in the field.

"I think there were quite a few gaps in the field when we went into bat and I went for the bowling from the word go. There was no plans to attack, it was just instinctive," the Delhi [Images] opener said.

Asked about his numberless jersey, Sehwag said too many astrologists started pestering him to use different numbers and hence he decided to use a jersey without any number on it.

"I don't believe in astrology but my family members do. Too many people used to call up and pester me and my family to use different numbers. I was so fed up that I decided not to take any of their advices. We play Test matches without numbers and hence I don't use any number on my T-shirt," he explained.




Complete coverage: England in India 2008

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