Virender Sehwag, who missed the first two Test of the England tour due to an injury, is all set to return to Test cricket as he is scheduled to arrive in England on Tuesday.
Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar feels that Virender Sehwag could have been given another chance keeping in mind the batting-friendly pitch in Mohali, which will host the third Test against Australia from March 14.
After the match, Dhoni admitted that the side was lacking steam in the batting department.
South Africa are planning to pepper Virender Sehwag with short balls and cramp him for space in the second Test.
England great Geoffrey Boycott might have written him off, but the out-of-form Virender Sehwag today received support from former India opener Navjot Singh Sidhu, who said the opener was far from finished.
Stand-in captain Virender Sehwag lavished praise on the young duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma stating that they batted as if they were "veteran of 200 matches."
The dashing batsman said if India takes a sizeable lead, the spinners can put pressure on the South Africans on the last day of the first Test.
Virender Sehwag has forced many a bowler into submission with his explosive batting, but on Tuesday he doffed his hat to Gautam Gambhir, describing him as the best Indian opener after the legendary Sunil Gavaskar.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag scored a scintillating 88-ball hundred to steer MCC past Durham in the English county season curtain raiser in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
While the entire country was praying for an India victory in Tuesday's One-Day International series opener in Rajkot, Man of the Match Virender Sehwag said he was actually supporting Sri Lanka in the high-scoring humdinger. 'I was not tense at all, because I was supporting Sri Lanka,' Sehwag said after India staved off Sri Lanka's spirited response to eke out a narrow three-run victory.
Sachin Tendulkar moved up a rung to 11th while dashing opener Virender Sehwag also broke into the top-20 in the latest ICC ODI Rankings in which India held on to the third position in the team chart.
Man of the match Virender Sehwag termed India's 87-run win over Bangladesh as "revenge" having lost to the same opponents four years ago in Port-of-Spain during last World Cup.
Virender Sehwag's prolonged form slump has become a cause of concern but the struggling opener received the backing of another swashbuckler Sanath Jayasuriya who said India needed an "impact player" like him to win matches.
Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said fit-again opener Virender Sehwag's form would be crucial as the visitors aim for a Test series triumph in Sri Lanka for the first time in 17 years.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Saturday said Virender Sehwag 'spoke foolishly' when he claimed that 'lack of setting' cost him the Indian team's coach's job.
"Can't be so defensive against the spinners," Sehwag tweeted.
India vice captain Virender Sehwag on Wednesday threw his weight behind out-of-form Yuvraj Singh, calling him a "jewel" and predicting that the left-hander would soon be back in the Indian side after sorting out his fitness issues.
Yashasvi Jaiswal stole the limelight with a classy century on Day 2 of the first Test on Thursday.
The India opener is returning from a shoulder surgery with very little preparation besides the two-day tour match against Northamptonshire last week.
'If Mahendra Singh Dhoni announces retirement, he can prove to be a good option. He has played a lot of cricket and has won big tournaments.'
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) felicitated the recently-retired Virender Sehwag at his home ground Feroz Shah Kotla on Thursday before the start of the fourth Test match between India and South Africa.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly feels that Virender Sehwag's "hunger to succeed" and veteran Rahul Dravid's "fluency of footwork" is on the decline.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Wednesday said barring Virender Sehwag his batting department was having a tough time in the ongoing cricket tri-series in Sri Lanka.
India's opener Virender Sehwag on Monday said mental toughness is a key area for batsmen and having the services of Paddy Upton is a great help.
Shubman Gill has struggled for consistency in Test cricket, averaging 35.05 for a tally of 1893 runs in 32 Tests, with five centuries and seven fifties.
They arrived in Mumbai Wednesday evening and left for Nagpur and Delhi respectively.
Aware of the fact that letting Virender Sehwag play his free-flowing game could be perilous for them in the upcoming Test series, Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson has vowed to stop the explosive Indian opener by peppering him with short-balls.
Out-of-favour for One-Day Internationals, Virender Sehwag was named captain of Rest of India for the Airtel Irani Cup match against Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai, at the Wankhede stadium, from February 6 to 10. A significant development was that of out-of-form opener Gautam Gambhir not being named in any of the squads.
Dashing opener Virender Sehwag conceded that he needs to improve his batting at the top of the order to win matches for India, saying he will curb his natural aggressive instinct.
The stand-in India captain appealed to the fans to repose their faith in the team and promised a fight back.
India captain Anil Kumble on Sunday lauded rich tributes on Virender Sehwag for his blazing 319 in the first Test against South Africa, saying it is one of the best ever innings he has seen.
India have flown in Dinesh Karthik as a stand-by player for injured Virender Sehwag as the visitors gear up for Tuesday's last league match of the Asia Cup against Sri Lanka.
Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar hit their second successive centuries before South Africa staged a late fightback on day two of the second and final Test, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, on Sunday. At close, India were 342 for five in 76 overs, a lead of 46 runs after South Africa were bowled out for 296 in their first innings.
His Bradmanesque sequence of scores in domestic cricket in recent years have mingled with the most testing time of his career, but Karun Nair picks the "end of 2022" as the toughest he has had to endure, describing it as "quite a dark place."
Opener Virender Sehwag will return to action in the Irani Cup, where he will lead Rest of India in the October 1 to 5 tournament in Nagpur. Sehwag, who missed the just-concluded tri-series in Sri Lanka due to a shoulder injury sustained during the Indian Premier League, will have S Badrinath as his deputy.
Not willing to blame the batsmen for India's sudden collapse, vice-captain Virender Sehwag said all of them fell to good deliveries though the wicket was playing well. "(Sachin) Tendulkar, Rahul (Dravid), Sourav (Ganguly) all fell to good balls, so you cannot do anything about it. They (Sri Lanka) have quality bowlers," Sehwag said after the first day's play, in which India lost its four batsmen in the space of 10 runs.
The 36-year-old Dhoni had a strike rate of 132 at the end of his innings, but the inability to rotate strike has prompted some to raise questions.
Sehwag took a funny jibe at the ICC for hosting the World Test Championship final in the UK
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