Sachin’s tips helped me: Sehwag

Napier, December 30: Even though injury prevented Sachin Tendulkar from actually taking the field for the second one-day international against the Kiwis here on Sunday, he did his bit for the team with a coaching stint for man-of-the-match Virender Sehwag.

Tendulkar was seen helping Sehwag out at nets on Saturday. The Nawab of Najafgarh was having a problem with his bat, which was coming down from the direction of the point region. He was even having problems facing Rakesh Patel in the nets and both Srinath and Zaheer Khan were making difficult for him.

He was, in any case, completely clueless against the Kiwi bowling attack in the Tests and first one-dayer.
Tendulkar showed Sehwag the exact way the bat should come down and then suggested that Sehwag should take a middle-stump guard. He also suggested that Sehwag stand at least 10 inches outside the crease and showed him the way to play deliveries outside the off stump.

Later, when nets were done with, he threw balls in that region to Sehwag just to make him feel more comfortable playing them.

Both then went to the coach and Tendulkar told John Wright why he thought it would be better to counter the Kiwi fast bowlers from 10 inches outside the crease.

A satisfied Wright said later, "Great batsmen find their own way to counter problems. Sachin mulled over it and wanted to try this out. Since he would not be able to play the game, he showed Sehwag how to do it. That's what commitment to the team is about."

Sehwag obviously benefitted from the impromptu coaching lesson, though his rather unfortunate run out scuttled India's hopes of squaring the series. This was the first time he scored a century in a lost match.

"It's painful. It would have been more satisfactory had I been able to see the team through. It was a really good bating track and I wanted to be there till the last ball but unfortunately, failed. Still, the innings boosted my confidence, as I was not getting runs regularly here. Sachin's tips were just great. That's why I said earlier that when we have batsmen like Sachin, Sourav and Rahul in our team, we don't need to go elsewhere for tips," he said.

It is hoped that those named and the rest live up to their reputation in the remaining one-day matches!