Mumbai: It’s rare to find an Indian and an Australian cricketer being good friends off the field, especially since the infamous 2008 test series in Australia. But swashbuckling Indian opener Virender Sehwag is so fond of Australian batsman and his Delhi Daredevils teammate, David Warner, that he wants Warner to break his record of most runs in a day in test cricket.

In fact, Virender Sehwag has been inspiring the Australian big-hitting batsman, who is considered a T20 specialist, to start thinking about a test future.

“He said you have to play as much cricket for your country. He said you’ll be playing Test cricket in the next two years and you’ll be taking over my record of most runs in a day. He has scored something like 284 runs in a day and said he wanted me to get 300,” Warner was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph.  ”It put a smile on my face and it’s a challenge for myself. I want to play Test cricket.”

Warner said Sehwag told him to think beyond T20 cricket and target Test batting records.  ”Sehwag said in Tests you can play all your shots and if an opposition is 0-100 off 15 overs in a Test, you’ll have them run off their feet,” Warner said.

“I said it’s a good philosophy to have and if I can open the batting in first-class cricket for NSW, I’ll play my attacking role but also knuckle down when the time comes. If I can play a quarter of the Tests ‘Punter’ (Ricky Ponting) has played, I’ll be happy,” he added.

With the IPL coming to an end, the focus now shifts to the Twenty20 World Championship in West Indies and Warner said the ODI world champions stand a good chance of grabbing the title in the Caribbean.

“I reckon we have got the team to go through and win it. We’ve got four quicks who bowl over 150km/h plus and we’ll be playing on wickets that don’t bounce during the day,” he said.  ”Spin is also a key in Twenty20 cricket, and we have two of them (Nathan Hauritz and Steven Smith), (David) Hussey can bowl part-time, and obviously ‘Pup’ (Michael Clarke) as well.”

Related News Headlines

• No Related Post

Cricketain Latest

• Sachin, Dhoni, Sehwag in race for ICC awards
• No-ball row: Sangakkara takes full responsibility
• BCCI will not pursue no-ball matter with SLC
• BCCI denies compelling fatigued cricketers to play
• Bowlers in desperate need of a break: MS Dhoni
• Yuvraj out with dengue, Nehra uncertain for Sri Lanka ODI
• “Pakistan players should be allowed to play in IPL 4”
• ECB asks Pietersen to stay away from Lalit Modi
• Munaf Patel called up as cover for Ishant
• Final squads for CLT20 announced, Flintoff not in CSK squad