Wed, Jul 21 10 08:07 PM
T V Sriram Galle (Sri Lanka), July 21 (PTI) India are hoping that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and VVS Laxman would bat long enough, like they did against South Africa early this year, and heavens would do them a favour by opening up tomorrow to salvage the first Test against Sri Lanka. Opener Virender Sehwag, only Indian to score a century in this Test so far, said both Dhoni and Laxman can still spoil Sri Lanka''s party. India, who ended the day at 181 for five, are still trailing by 63 runs and need to survive three sessions tomorrow to save the opening match of the three-Test series. "Laxman and Dhoni are able to bat and we are hoping for the rain. On earlier occasion the two did bat against South Africa and we are hoping it will happen tomorrow," Sehwag said a press conference after day''s play. Both Dhoni and Laxman had scored centuries against the Proteas in the Kolkata Test in February and their partnership was instrumental in India''s win in that match. The second day of the Test was washed out without a ball being bowled due to rains. Sehwag also defended his selection of shots in the match as he lost his wickets while chasing out of reach balls in both the innings. In the first innings, he squandered his wicket soon after making his 20th Test hundred by chasing a wide delivery off paceman Chanaka Welegedara and fell to the same bowler in the second essay when he played one away from his body. Sehwag though said that''s the way he bats and he does not find anything wrong in his shot selection. "I don''t think (it was a mistake) to play a cut shot. Out of the 7000 odd runs 3000 runs of mine, have been in cut shots," he reasoned. Sehwag also rued India let Sri Lanka tailenders score too many runs and that tilted the match towards the hosts. "The long stand between Malinga and Herath cost us dear as they put on about 100 runs partnership. If that had not happened we could have avoided the follow on and things could have been different," he said. "It is good to have results in Test matches, but in this case it could be bad for India. Overall you cannot control certain things. We want to bat as long as possible. We do not want to lose a Test match.
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