Virender Sehwag to replace Das as opener

Southampton, July 23: Swashbuckling batsman Virender Sehwag will replace out of form Shiv Sunder Das in the first cricket Test against England at Lord's on Thursday.

Sehwag will open the innings alongwith Wasim Jaffer after Das struggled to get out of his wretched form which has haunted him since the West Indies tour.

"Veeru is a special player. He has played well at Lord's and he could well get the opportunity there," coach John Wright said here on Monday.

Sehwag, who opened the innings in the one-day series, scored 229 runs from seven matches at 32.71.

"It (Sehwag opening the innings) has been an enormous plus for us," Wright added.

"He is a very positive player who will put pressure on the opposition if he gets the opportunity early."

Das was dropped from the team for the second first-class fixture against Hampshire, which the tourists won comfortably by 66 runs today.

"Since Das has gone out of the side he couldn't have survived at (number) seven," Wright said.

"He probably is one of our top six batsman. It is a matter of finding space for him," Wright added.

Space will be hard to find in the playing eleven for Das after the recent exploits of Dinesh Mongia and Mohammad Kaif.

While the Orissa batsman struggled in the opening first-class fixture against the West India 'A', Mongia and Kaif, asked to stay back for the Test series, each struck a half-century to ensure a draw.