Dubai: India are capable of retaining the ICC Cricket World Cup if their allround performances in the first two matches are anything to go by, according to dashing opener Virender Sehwag.
The Men in Blue beat Pakistan by 76 runs last week and South Africa by 130 runs on Sunday to go top of Pool B ahead of their next game against the UAE on Saturday.
Sehwag, who lifted the World Cup with India in 2011 and has been one of their match-winners for years, believes if they can keep it up, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side will be successful again.
“I think we are doing very well, we beat Pakistan and South Africa, so I’m sure that we are going to be in the final,” said the 36-year-old on the sidelines of the Official ICC Cricket World Cup merchandise launch at the Al Ghusais branch of Lulu Hypermarket in Dubai on Monday. “We are reigning champions, so hopefully we can defend our role,” added the 2008 and 2009 Wisden Leading Cricketer of the World.
“If you look at our batting and bowling [in the first two games] we have delivered on both fronts and that’s very important. You only have to look at the batsmen who have scored well for us in both matches so far: Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Ajinkya Rahane and the bowlers like Mohammad Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohit Sharma. We are doing really well as a group, and hopefully we are capable of doing more good work.”
Of India’s leading run-scorer Dhawan, who scored 137 and 73 in the two innings so far, Sehwag added: “He’s a very good player, he didn’t score runs in Test matches but he’s in good form [now] and I hope he keeps playing the way he did against Pakistan and South Africa.”
Looking around the store surrounded by Indian shirts, the Delhi-born opener, who has scored 8,586 runs in 104 Test appearances and 8,273 runs in 251 One-Day International (ODI) matches in over a decade’s service for India (2001 to 2013), said: “It’s a proud moment for every cricketer to wear this shirt and participate in a World Cup. I’m lucky enough to have won two World Cups, the T20 World Cup in 2007 and the 50-overs one in 2011.”
On his omission from this latest World Cup and his eagerness to get back in the squad, he added: “I’m still playing first class cricket, so it depends on the selectors. As long as I’m still playing cricket I’m happy, it doesn’t matter if that’s first class, international or whatever, I’m happy.”
