Sehwag refuses to admit Ganguly is finished

Virender Sehwag, the Indian vice-captain, has voiced his gratitude to Sourav Ganguly, the former captain, and admitted that the team missed him. Sehwag, who was one of a crop of youngsters that flourished under Ganguly's captaincy, acknowledged that he could still make a comeback to the national side.

"He [Ganguly] supported me a lot. He backed Yuvraj [Singh], Harbhajan [Singh], Ashish [Nehra], Ajit Agarkar, Mohammad Kaif," Sehwag told Press Trust of India. "He is still playing first class cricket and hopefully he will get a chance again. It will be good if he gets back because he has got 10,000 one-day runs, 5,000 Test runs and 22 ODI hundreds. Most of the time India won when he got a hundred. He is a fantastic player and sometimes we miss Ganguly." Sehwag added that Ganguly was his favourite captain after Steve Waugh.

Sehwag also spoke on Rahul Dravid's leadership, Chappell's abilities and the coming generation of Indian cricketers. "Dravid is a very good thinker, someone who never panics in a pressure situation," he said. "Maybe, hopefully, Dravid will be the best captain by the end of his career." On Chappell, Sehwag said that he was a great player with a great knowledge of the game. Comparing him with John Wright, India's coach before Chappell, Sehwag pointed out that the difference between them was their attitude. "Someone who has been aggressive in his batting is also aggressive in his coaching," he said. "Wright would be tense and unhappy if we did badly whereas Chappell is very cool and calm because he knows all players face pressure situations."

When quizzed if Chappell was a control freak, Sehwag denied this. "That's not true. As the coach he is the head of the family," he said. "He can instruct you, guide you but he is not forcing us to do this and that. I do not think he controls the players too much." Of the coming generation, Sehwag singled out Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the next superstar. "He is handling pressure very well and in tough situations he adjusts his game very quickly," he said. "India have very good finishers now in Dhoni, Yuvraj, Suresh Raina and Irfan Pathan. These four are match winners. They play ball-by-ball. If they play 50 balls, they will get 50 runs... They are very cool and calm."

Sehwag remained confident of India's ability to continue their winning streak in one-day internationals. "Our confidence is high as we are winning matches. We have won two or three series continuously," he said. "We are trying to build a team for the World Cup. Hopefully we will do well in the West Indies. This series is important for us because of next year's World Cup there."