Playing Against Ireland Will Be a Good Practice for India Ahead of England Series - Virender Sehwag
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Former India batsman, Virender Sehwag believes the T20I series against Ireland will serve as good practice for Team India for the challenging tour of England.
England would be challenging – Sehwag
India will play two T20Is against Ireland, starting July 27 before heading to England for a full-fledged series.
Despite England being a tough place to tour for India, Virat Kohli & Co. will start the proceedings in the European country without any practice game.
The team had already paid the price for not playing any practice game before an overseas Test series early this year when they took on South Africa without any match-practice.
By the time, the players got used to the conditions, the team had lost the Test series. However, Virat Kohli & Co. made up for it by winning the subsequent ODI and T20I series.
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And India is now set to take on England without playing any warm-up game. But Sehwag feels the games against Ireland would serve the purpose. At the same time, the batting legend warned India, currently ranked third on the ICC T20I rankings, against taking the opposition lightly.
“Playing against Ireland will be a good practice for India ahead of England series. Couple of Irish players can give tough competition to India. India should not take Ireland lightly,” Sehwag told IndiaTV.
The first T20I against Ireland will be India’s 100th. Reflecting on the journey, Sehwag was full of praise for India’s performance in the shortest format.
He recalled the historic inaugural World T20I where India won the title against all the odds.
“India’s journey to the 100th T20I has been impressive as we won the inaugural World T20 in 2007. We defeated the best of world T20 sides in the tournament, where we were considered as underdogs,” he said.
Sehwag optimistic about India’s chances
Sehwag, India’s first T20I skipper. Further said India should field their best eleven against Ireland.
“India should play the same eleven that they plan for the three ODIs and as many T20I against England. The players will get used to the conditions with the help of these two matches,” Sehwag said.
The batting legend went on to say Kohli will do well in England despite missing his county stint due to an injury. The India skipper was supposed to play County Cricket for Surrey ahead of India’s tour of England. However, he could not go to England because of the neck injury.
Sehwag is confident the Kohli will come stronger after a much-needed break due to injury.
“He played a lot of cricket before IPL, and with the injury, he got a much-needed break. I think he’ll come stronger as we have seen videos where is batting both the right-handed and left-handed in nets.”
