Virender Sehwag speaks the way he bats. He is forthright and holds nothing back. On Tuesday after his innings of 131, he was asked whether he regretted not scoring 150. His reply was unambiguous. "No, I am always happy whether I make 10, 100 or 300." He looked back with piercing eyes and said,
"131 is not small."
On a day when Sehwag and Delhi mate, Gautam Gambhir, made merry on a placid wicket and exploited Sri Lanka's lack of depth in seam bowling, there was no place for regrets.
He was equally sure of his answer when he countered a query on Gambhir. "He is the best Indian opener after (Sunil) Gavaskar." Not only that, Sehwag compared the deft leftie to both Gavaskar and Don Bradman, record-wise.
"I have always believed he can be the best and, when he reached his ton, I told him to think big." Gambhir got his fourth Test ton in a row and went on to make 167. Sehwag was pleased after the duo made hay on a dead wicket. His reading was a bit different from that of Dhoni's who had said on Monday that it would be a lot different from Ahmedabad.
“The wicket looks similar to Ahmedabad and is low and slow and there is no help for the bowlers,” said Gambhir. “But, generally, in India we get these kind of wickets —placid on the first two days which break up after the third day,” he added.