Virender Sehwag believes India are the favourites for World T20

Virender Sehwag has called India as the front runners for clinching the ICC World T20 which begins in March. Rediff reported the legendary batsman sharing his thoughts on the upcoming 20 overs extravaganza.

Sehwag was effusive in his praise for the current crop of batsmen. The Delhi dasher enthused, “We have batsmen like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra and spin attack of Jadeja and Ashwin. I think, India are the favourites for the competition.”

Widely regarded as one of the greatest ever openers from India, Sehwag singled out the combination of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma as extremely dangerous. The 37-year old said, “They have become a good pair and if they stay there for first seven or eight overs, nobody can stop India.”

Sehwag who constantly mentions Ashish Nehra in his tweets reaffirmed his admiration for the experienced seamer. He asserted, “After his (Nehra’s) performance in the last IPL, he has been included in the national team and he has been doing better, especially taking wickets in early overs. I think he will play well, like he did it along with Zaheer Khan in the 2011 World Cup.”

With his electrifying starts, Sehwag had set the tone for India’s successful campaign in the 2007 World T20. However, he remained wary of the stiff competition posed by some of the other teams and stated, “At present Pakistan has the best pace attack, especially Muhammad Amir who bowled well.”

When the focus veered towards the much-hyped clash between India and Pakistan in Dharamsala, Virender played down concerns regarding the Himachal Pradesh government’s stand.

He continued, “It is up to the ICC and BCCI how they react. But I am sure match will take place, if not in Dharamsala then at some other place.” Speaking about his new role as an analyst, Sehwag jested, "I am becoming a cricket expert. Whatever happens on the ground will be told to the listeners. We will also try to pull leg of the players.”

Singing was Sehwag's mantra for keeping focus while batting

The former India opener revealed that he would sing songs of legendary artists like Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar to keep himself focused on his game while batting.

“To keep negative thoughts away, I used to sing a lot of songs while batting. Singing used to keep me from getting distracted. I used to sing the golden songs of Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar.

“The aim of singing these songs was to keep negative thoughts away which could have distracted me to lose my wicket. What song, whose song and other things did not matter as long as they fulfilled the purpose.

“When I used to be at my end of the pitch, then I would sing. I would also talk to umpires at the non-strikers end for the same purpose.”