Sehwag: ‘I will allow my players to play aggressively’

Kings XI Punjab’s director of cricket operations says his team will not unduly worry about victory or defeat.

With some players in form, Virender Sehwag hoped his team will do better this year.

Virender Sehwag will allow Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) players to play aggressively in the upcoming Indian Premier League.

Sehwag, director, cricket operations, KXIP, said, “We are not worried about victory or defeat. I will allow my players to play aggressive cricket (in the IPL),” he told reporters here after unveiling the team’s jersey. “The players of Kings XI Punjab would play fearlessly like I have played,” quipped the right-hand batsman.

Sehwag also confirmed that pacer Ishant Sharma, who was not picked by any of the franchises in the IPL auction, is now a part of his team. “It’s a pleasure to inform that Ishant (Sharma) is now picked up by Kings XI. I have an old rapport with him as we played together in Indian team,” he said.

Sehwag said, “IPL was known as the game of batsmen but half of the matches in IPL were won due to bowlers, who stopped the batsmen from scoring. So, we have picked Ishant Sharma in place of Murali Vijay to sharpen our bowling attack.”

With some players in good form unlike last season, Sehwag hoped KXIP would do better this year. “We have good batsmen like Martin Guptill, Glenn Maxwell, Eoin Morgan, Darren Sammy and David Miller. If any two of these batsman perform then we can easily win the match,” he added.

KXIP finished at the bottom of the table last season with eight points in 14 matches. Asked about it, Sehwag said, “Now we can’t go down any more. Now, we can [only] go up. If our players perform, our team would reach the playoffs.”

Sehwag also said his team would love to play matches with five bowlers.