The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : With a little help from Kirsten

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With a little help from Kirsten

— PHOTO: AFP

IRONING OUT THE CHINKS: Virender Sehwag seems to have benefited from some time in the nets, at the instance of Gary Kirsten.

Adelaide: Virender Sehwag is back to where he belongs and he owes new coach Gary Kirsten.

Sehwag justified his Test spot with a second-innings knock of 151 here and is now one of the first names the Indian team would pencil in for the forthcoming Twenty20 match and the tri-series.

The Delhi batsman had come to Australia on reputation rather than form and it was possibly his century against the ACT XI in Canberra between the second and the third Tests that earned him a chance in the Perth Test where he provided India a positive start in both the innings.

His scores of 29 and 43 do not quite indicate how valuable his contribution was.

Discuss batting

Kirsten, who was in Perth with the team as a consultant ahead of taking up assignment as Team India coach in March, is said to have sought Sehwag out to discuss his batting.

Over a lengthy nets session, Kirsten asked Sehwag to take an off-stump guard and leave everything which was bowled to him around that area. It was an apparent attempt to get the opener to eschew a few shots he had a tendency to go for outside the off-stump. Kirsten is also said to have suggested that Sehwag completely leave out the upper cut — always a low-percentage shot.

Straight bat

It was also suggested that Sehwag try and meet the ball with straight bat, eliminating errors such as playing across — which cost him in the second innings of the Perth Test, being bowled by Stuart Clark.

Kirsten is also said to have asked Sehwag to challenge himself to last at least 150 balls each time he visits the crease.

All this seems to have worked out very well for Sehwag, who came up with what was possibly a match-saving knock in the final Test. — PTI

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