Sehwag regains his touch

Virender Sehwag has made light of the hype over the bouncy pitch at the WACA in Perth, saying he would be intent to play his shots if given a chance in the third Test, starting on January 16.

Sehwag, who cracked a 73-ball hundred in the Indians' warm-up game against ACT Invitational XI in Canberra, was confident of earning a spot and was happy he had rediscovered his rhythm in this innings.

"I have played a couple of one-day games in Perth and done well," he said when asked of the challenge of playing on arguably the bounciest pitch in the world. "The ball comes on to the bat nicely and allows one to go for shots. It's a wicket that plays true. I always bat with a positive mindset and things won't be different here. And I never look at the pitch before batting, so the approach will be the same."

Sehwag, whose last Test was in Cape Town a little more than a year back, made no bones about the fact that he preferred Tests to one-dayers. "It gives me more time to play my natural game," he said. "In one-dayers, one has to think about runs, overs and different fields. Tests give me the chance to play an attacking game."

Sehwag has had a torrid time off late and his selection for the tour was a big surprise, considering he had made just 66 runs in three Ranji Trophy games. "I spent a lot of time with my coach in Delhi, AN Sharma," he said. "We worked on my mindset. I've also been doing some yoga. I needed to get over a negative mindset which was making me play too many shots. I'm happy I batted with a positive mindset today."

He was patchy in the first innings, struggling to 24, before a brilliant catch did him in. "I was trying to spend time at the wicket in the first innings but today the wicket was very slow. So I played like I did in the past. If there was a ball to be hit, I hit it. If I get my chance, I just want to grab the opportunity and come back to Test cricket."