NEW DELHI – Key Indian opener Virender Sehwag is fully fit and raring to go, local media reported on Friday, boosting the country’s chances of glory at the World Cup. Sehwag, 32, was ruled out of India’s recent one-day series against South Africa due to a shoulder injury, raising doubts over his fitness ahead of the tournament, which starts on February 19.
“I was feeling some pain in my shoulder,” Sehwag told news channel CNN-IBN. “So (I thought it was) better to quit the South Africa one-dayers. “I didn’t want to get injured during the South Africa tour and miss the World Cup. So I came back and went to Germany to see a couple of doctors. I got a couple of injections and now I’m fine. “I am going to the National Cricket Academy (in Bangalore) and will spend a couple of days there to check everything — if I can bowl and throw also but if I can’t, then I’ll let them know. “But at the moment I’m fully fit.”
Sehwag, with 7,380 runs from 228 one-day internationals, is seen as key to India’s batting fortunes at the showpiece event, being co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The aggressive right-hander said the team were upbeat about their opening tie against Bangladesh in Dhaka. India lost to the minnows in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, a defeat that eventually led to their early exit from the tournament.
“Because we’re playing the opening game against them in Bangladesh, Bangladeshi people are expecting them to beat us again,” Sehwag said. “But this time we have prepared well.
