Virender Sehwag: "We must think of how to get him out instead of thinking of stopping him" © AFP Enlarge
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Virender Sehwag, India's stand-in captain, is confident his fast bowlers will come up with a plan to restrict Tillakaratne Dilshan , who has been Sri Lanka's leading batsman this series with back-to-back centuries. Dilshan is currently in the form of his life, scoring a combined ten centuries and eight fifties in Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 internationals since the start of the year.

"It's very difficult to stop somebody who is in such good form," Sehwag said on the eve of the third ODI in Cuttack. "We must think of how to get him out instead of thinking of stopping him. I am sure Zaheer (Khan), Ishant (Sharma), PK (Praveen Kumar) will work it out."

Dilshan's 160 gave Sri Lanka a very realistic chance of chasing a mammoth 415 in Rajkot - they fell short by three runs - but his 123 in the second game in Nagpur set up their successful chase of 302. His strike-rate of 118.93 is indicative of how destructive he has been.

Sehwag will lead the side for the next two ODIs in MS Dhoni's absence, following the ban handed to Dhoni by the match referee for a slow over-rate in the second game in Nagpur. Sehwag said the team will miss Dhoni, who has been in good touch with the bat.

"He is our match-winner. If we look at the last game, he got us back (with a century)," Sehwag said. "Without him, we would have been got out for 40-45 overs. He is our best player in our middle order line-up and also a very good captain. But there is no extra pressure as a captain with everybody contributing for the team."

Sehwag was also confident of settling quickly into his makeshift role. "It's (captaincy) not difficult. I am part of the team and I know who is playing, who is not playing," he said. "I know of our strategy and planning. I don't think it's any kind of a problem."

One of India's biggest problems in this series has been their woeful fielding and catching. India hired Mike Young, formerly with the Australian team, as their fielding consultant before the limited-overs leg of the tour to counter this problem. However, Sehwag urged for patience and was confident Young's training methods would eventually work.

"He just joined the time and he needs sometime," he said. "He is a very good at it. He just taught us few drills, some new fielding session. He is very keen on what he is doing. I'm sure it will help.

"It's very difficult for pacers after bowling 7-8 overs to do well in the fielding. It is a concern and we are working towards it."