By IANS,
New Delhi : Virender Sehwag feels that India can beat any side overseas after breaking the New Zealand jinx to follow up their impressive performance in other Test-playing countries in recent years.
Sehwag said India’s improved overseas track record in the last few series showed that they could play in all conditions.
“Before the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, nobody gave us a chance. But we proved people wrong by winning there. We have won series in West Indies, England and now New Zealand and have won Tests in Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. At the moment we are doing very well. This team can play anywhere,” Sehwag told reporters at a Delhi Daredevils promotional event here Saturday.
India scripted their first Test series win in New Zealand since the 3-1 victory under Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi in 1968. It came on the back of 3-1 victory in the one-day series preceding Tests.
The New Zealand win was India’s third Test series victory in a row after beating world champions Australia and England.
India’s form in One-dayers and T20 have also been consistent. They have won 21 of the last 29 ODIs and seven of 13 in the shortest format.
Sehwag gave a peek into India’s new-found confidence overseas. At Napier, India were struggling after being asked to follow-on and with two days remaining in the second Test.
“Nobody in the dressing room thought that we will lose the Test. We were confident that we can bat for two days. We did that against Australia and South Africa. There was no reason why we can’t repeat it. We have batsmen like (Rahul) Dravid, (Sachin) Tendulkar, (V.V.S.) Laxman, (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni, (Gautam) Gambhir, (Virender) Sehwag. So we never had a negative mindset.”
Sehwag said that Gambhir has emerged as one of the best India openers.
“I compared him to Sunil Gavaskar because he is the only regular opener to have shown such consistency. I was never an opener, but a middle-order batsman. Gambhir has all that needs to be a good opener. He has adapted to Test, One-day and T20 with success.”
Sehwag though said the team has to catch up on fielding.
“We missed some catches otherwise we could have won another Test. We have to improve our fielding.”
Gambhir, who was the pillar of India’s success in New Zealand, scoring 445 runs at a staggering average on 89 with two centuries, said that the Twenty20 World Cup was the turning point in his career.
“I have been in good form since the T20 World Cup. Lot of things have changed for me since then. The New Zealand series was very important for me. It was my first overseas Test tour outside the sub-continent and I wanted to perform.”
Asked about the Indian Premier League, Sehwag said that they will miss the home crowd.
“It will not be the same like here in India. We will miss the home fans and crowd. But I am hoping that it will be a success in South Africa. I am looking forward to give my best for Daredevils.”