Longer Sehwag stays at the crease, more runs he will get: Gavaskar

Longer Viru bats, more he will score, writes Sunil Gavaskar in his column in The Times Of India. “Virender Sehwag has now hit four successive fifties and has realized that the longer he stays at the crease the more runs he will get. He has such an incredible range of shots that if he pulls them out one by one then he will always score big. It is only when he tries to hit before settling down that he fails and not just in this format of the game but in Test cricket too,” writes Gavaskar, adding that if he calmly studies all his big scores in Test cricket, he will find that he has given himself almost an hour before unfurling his strokes.

“When he does that, even if he gets off to a slow start he will end up scoring at a run-aball. It is only when he tries to live up to the image of a swashbuckler from the word go that Sehwag flounders,” writes Gavaskar.

Meanwhile Sourav Ganguly writes in Hindustan Times that Pune Warriors will get into this game with a make-or-break mindset. “We will be keen to set the record straight for the future of the tournament. The wicket at Cuttack will probably be on the slower side, as I have been following a few games there, and selecting a balanced XI will be crucial. Though we were on leave for some days, we were in touch with each other. Pune would want to come out with the intensity we showed since the start of the tournament, and not look back for the remaining bit of the group league,” he adds.

According to a report in The DNA, a low-on-morale Rajasthan Royals will be looking to make amends when they take on the formidable Delhi Daredevils just 48 hours after losing a close away game here on Tuesday.

“Although the hosts would be hoping for a change of fortunes in their own den, the Royals would have to battle it out not just against a strong Delhi outfit in the field but also have to overcome the psychological barrier. The Royals have lost three matches on the trot and will be looking at Australia’s prolific all-rounder Shane Watson, who would be joining the squad on the Tuesday, to boost up the morale of the side and put it back on the winning track,” says the report.

Meanwhile Virender Sehwag in his column in The Times Of India writes that KP should make his last game memorable. “KP plays his last game for us at Jaipur and we hope he makes it a memorable one for himself and for the team. We will definitely miss him given the way he has batted throughout; but in David Warner, we have a good replacement waiting in the flanks. The big Aussie arrived from the Caribbean last night and will probably need a couple of days to recover from jetlag. He will be ready to play the May 7 game against Kolkata,” writes Sehwag.