News

'The 300 is history'

Virender Sehwag refused to cast his eyes back to former glories ahead of the first Test which starts at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday

Cricinfo staff
09-Jan-2006


"The 300 is history, I'm just looking forward to this series." © AFP
Virender Sehwag, whose devastating 309 at Multan in March 2004 played such a huge part in India's series victory, refused to cast his eyes back to former glories ahead of the first Test which starts at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday. "The 300 is history," he told reporters, after India's drawn warm-up match against Pakistan A at the Bagh-e-Jinnah. "I'm just looking forward to this series."
Sehwag arrived late in Pakistan, having played a Ranji Trophy game for Delhi against Karnataka. "It was important to play for my state," he said. "If we had won, we would have reached the semi-finals. But yes, it would have been nice to get here early and acclimatise."
He reckoned that the Pakistan A match had been good preparation for the team. "There are no worries either for me or the team," he said. "The batsmen got runs and the bowlers got to bowl 15-20 overs." When asked about the challenge ahead, Sehwag said that Pakistan would be under more pressure, being the home side.
After a recent blip, India will look to Sehwag to reproduce the form of 2004 against a Pakistan pace attack that was a formidable proposition against England. He had been practising with hard synthetic balls - "It's good to get used to the extra pace and bounce" - and relished the chance to take on a Pakistan team that's riding high at the moment. "It will be a good, tight series. Whoever wins the first Test will have the upper hand. They beat England, and we have beaten Sri Lanka, but that doesn't mean that it will be easy for either side."