Gaji
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Thursday rue deficiency of Virender Sehwag in the first two Tests against England.
Dhoni exclaim the opener is one of the few players in the world who could power the outcome of a game in a big way.
Sehwag, built-in in the squad of 17, is recovering from a process on his right shoulder and in his nonappearance, young Chennai opener Abhinav Mukund will open the innings with Gautam Gambhir at least in the first two Tests.
"We, as a side, rely on our openers quite a bit. A good start helps our middle order capitalize on it. There aren't many cricketers in the world that crash a game like Sehwag does. We will miss him," Dhoni said as India opens the tour with a three-day game against Somerset from Friday.
Dhoni insist that it was important for the openers to stand up to possibly the best international attack in the world. The Test series will begin at Lord's from July 21.
"England is a very good side; they frequently get abundance of runs. They take 20 wickets. We have to be at our very best," he said.
The Indian captain did not let himself to be weighed down by the fact that England; if winners by 2-0 in the series, could move them as number one Test team in the world.
"The basis of sport is to enjoy it. A lot of times you don't enjoy sport while playing top class cricket. We don't want to get into it the ratings aren't that important," he said.
Dhoni was also not ready to be besieged by England's strength and also looked at a few positives due in next few weeks.
"In West Indies, it was difficult to time after time score runs. Shot-playing wasn't that easy. It could be dissimilar here. You can play shots. The outfield certainly will be 200 miles faster than in the Caribbean which can be a great help to score runs," he said.
Over the next five weeks, in the four Tests, Indians can be assured of a huge support in the stands by the massive Asian population in the country. Dhoni recognized it but didn't think it would be the influential factor.
"Crowd support can push bowlers and batters to do that bit extra but frankly it's up to 11 players playing the match.
The bench strength and the support staff."
Dhoni did not forget to express his understanding with the victims of the Mumbai blast and hoped the pliability of Mumbaikars would help them overcome this tragedy as well.
"It's a sad event. It would be sad even if it didn't happen in Mumbai. Hopefully they will be soon being back at their best since Mumbai has resilience."
Coach Duncan Fletcher was by the skipper's side and said he did not think he would come back to England in such a way.
"Once I left England, I consideration that's it. I did a bit of consultancy before the coaching bug bit me again. When this chance came along, I couldn't turn it down."
From his short stretch with the Indians so far, Fletcher is frightened how too much cricket or lack of training isn't much of an issue with his players.
"They have played a lot of cricket. There is also a lot of cricket ahead. They played a Twenty20 game within hours of arrival in the West Indies, then a one-day game after two days. Still, the way Dravid and Laxman still prepare with strength - they might have played a lot of cricket but they don't show it. It doesn't seem to be an issue with this Indian side.
"In West Indies, I have never been concerned with those kinds of wickets, really spicy wickets in Barbados, it seemed all five days. Yet the team won. It appears in good space," he said.
Fletcher hinted if rules and conditions allowable, he would like to field more than 11 players in the three-day game against Somerset, beginning on Friday
He added: "We would like to play 13-a-side. Since this is the only first class game, the idea is to give practice to as many players as likely. But if there is a MoU alongside it, we would stick by it."
