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Just like his batting, there is never a dull moment when it comes to Virender Sehwag. One wouldn't know what to expect from the Nawab of Najafgarh, who revolutionised modern day batsmanship.
Having retired recently, Sehwag was his jovial self with a touch of humour thrown in for good measure. It seemed like a big weight off his shoulders.
Ahead of the inaugural Masters Champions League (MCL), Sehwag was asked if he would like to give out a warning to his opponents and the 37-year-old chuckled and said: "I think my name is enough. I don't need to give any message."
It may have been said in jest but the other five teams will certainly be taking him seriously. After all, this is Sehwag, who smacked and blunted bowling attacks from around the world and perhaps even ended many a bowler's career.
The opening batsman will indeed be leading from the front as he has been named captain of the Gemini Arabians.
On a more serious note, he said: "I will try to compete with others and try to score as many runs as I can and try to win games for my Gemini Arabians."
The MCL is set to roll this Thursday and Sehwag can't wait for it to get started. Sehwag's Gemini Arabians square off against Libra Legends in Dubai and Sehwag said that apart from it being the tournament opener, another interesting aspect would be him matching wits against his former India captain.
"Everyone is looking forward to the first MCL match and once that comes around, everybody will get into the groove for the next four games. Personally, I'm looking forward to that first game because I'm playing against Saurav Ganguly. He was my ex-captain so he knows everything about me and I know everything about Saurav. So, hopefully that game will go in a good manner and people of the UAE will come and see some good cricket. So I'm hoping that we can play a good game and entertain the crowd," said Sehwag.
Sehwag's team is a well balanced one but he reckoned that the strength lays in their batting, despite having two of their greatest spinners of all time Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan and Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq in their ranks. "I think our strength is still our batting. Richard Levi, Sangakkara, Brad Hodge, Justin Kemp and myself, these are very good batsmen and any one of them can win the game for the team. Also, when you look at the bowling, we have two legends in Muralitharan and Saqlain Mushtaq. Apart from the spin bowling, we have decent fast bowlers like Graham Onions and Kyle Mills and Rana Naved. So, hopefully the combination I'm going to play will deliver on that day," he said.
Sehwag felt that the tournament was a great opportunity not just for the retired players but also the fans in the UAE. "This tournament is an opportunity for the players who retired from international cricket so that they can come and extend their career by playing in the MCL. Also, people in the UAE haven't seen some of the stars of previous playing. The IPL did happen here a couple of years ago when half of the tournament was played here. There were big crowds to watch their favourite players and to support their team. But this is another good opportunity for people here to come and watch the legends of cricket and learn something from it. This is also a great opportunity for Emiratis to take up cricket," said Viru.
james@khaleejtimes.com
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