Panaji: Virender Sehwag wants India to play arch-rivals Pakistan in the upcoming World Cup as he feels the match is “no less than a war and you should win the war, not lose it”.
There was a clamour for boycott of cricketing ties with Pakistan in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack February. The Indian cricket board, in fact, went to the extent of writing to the ICC, urging the world body and its member-nations to sever ties with countries which harbour terror.
However, ICC turned down BCCI’s request though the Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai said last month that the Indian board was still seeking a ban on Pakistan.
Talking about the performance of Chennai Super Kings in the ongoing IPL, Sehwag credited captain M S Dhoni for bringing the best out of his team.
“The leader should know he can make his colleagues put in 100 per cent efforts. The chief executive officer does not work – the work is done by subordinates – but the CEO knows how to get the work done. As of today, when IPL is going on, we consider M S Dhoni as the best captain because he can get work done by his players. Or else their bowling attack is one of the worst in today’s time. You tell me one bowler from that team who is playing for his country but Dhoni knows how to get the work done and how to rotate them,” said the former India opener.
When asked which captain’s style has helped the team perform better – Sehwag named Sourav Ganguly. He explained that when you have a new team, leadership matters the most in order to get 100 per cent from the players.
“A leader is someone who can make others do the work to their fullest. This, I feel genuinely, is a talent very few people had in the Indian cricket team and Sourav Ganguly was one such great captain who built a good team after the match-fixing controversy. And this team went on to win overseas Test and tournament matches,” he added.