Sehwag confident of series win at Eden Gardens

Virender SehwagKolkata, Dec 23 : Sounding a warning to the Sri Lankans, stand-in Indian skipper Virender Sehwag Wednesday said his team was determined to wrap up the series by winning the fourth One-dayer at the Eden Gardens Thursday.

Sehwag said they are not going to give up the 2-1 lead and will be looking to win the series before the last ODI at Delhi.

The Indian team were in a similar position in their last series against Australia, but lost 4-2.

Sehwag said he did not have in mind how they surrendered the series to Australia.

"We have come here to win the match. And we will try our level best to win the match. We lost the series against Australia from 2-1 up. But we are not worried. We won't give up the lead easily," he said.

However, Shewag described the absence of Yuvraj Singh and regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as 'critical' as they were match-winners.

"They are match-winners. Their absence will be critical. But we have to play with who we have," he told reporters.

While Yuvraj is out of the series with a finger injury, Dhoni is serving a two-match ban for slow overrate in the second ODI at Nagpur.

Sehwag disclosed that he would field first if he won the toss as the track looks like a batting-friendly wicket.

Asked about his team's strategy to stop Tillakaratne Dilshan, who has been in blazing form, he said: "It is difficult to stop him. It is better to try and get him out. If we can get his wicket we can put pressure on the Sri Lankan middle order."

Sehwag said he would continue with pacer Ashish Nehra as the first-change bowler.

He had a word of praise for left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who plotted the Lankan downfall at Cuttack. "He and Harbhajan bowled really well. I am looking forward for them to deliver again."

Youngster Virat Kohli, who notched up a half-century in the Cuttack match, was also lauded. "He is a good talent. He scored 70 odd runs against the West Indies in the Champions Trophy and in the last match against Sri Lanka he got 50-odd. He is growing as a cricketer."(IANS)