There are few players who can single-handedly destroy the opposition's morale and confidence. One of them in Virender Sehwag; another is Australia's Andrew Symonds.
The Aussie's rise as a batsman over the past few years is nothing short of extraordinary.
"The thing with me is that I have now decided to make sure I reach 20 in every innings I play. Once I have done that I know I can take the game by the scruff of the neck and dominate the opposition," says Symonds.
Such is his confidence at the moment that he invariably achieves what he sets out to.
Sehwag, in many ways, has the same kind of ability and one wonders whether Symonds's approach might work for the Indian opener too.
"I believe that the way you play depends on a lot of factors, including the weather and the wicket. Of course, it is important to get set at the wicket, but, at the end, individual players sort out what suits them best and, hopefully, Viru will do that as well," says coach of the Indian team John Wright.
Looking at Viru bat, one gets the feeling that at the moment he is being intimidated by the opposition. He seems hesitant, indeed a far cry from the daredevil he was at the start of his international career.
"Viru really just needs one good innings. Sometimes, when you haven't been getting runs, I think you just need to spend time in the middle," adds Wright.
There have also been suggestions from the team management that Sehwag needs to tone down his stroke-making, at least for the initial part of his innings.
In fact, before the Champions Trophy game against Kenya, India skipper Sourav Ganguly revealed that the team management had asked the dashing batsman to play as if he was playing in Test matches.
But Wright is against him playing like that.
"I basically believe that Sehwag needs to play his natural game. He is a fearless batsman and you can't ask him to curb his instincts.
"At the moment he needs to back himself, play straight and it [the runs] will eventually come. Sehwag is a great player," added Wright.
However, with everything going amiss for India -- its leading batsmen and bowlers forced to sit out because of injuries -- one bright spot is the batting of Ganguly.
"I just think that if two of the first three get good totals it sets you up for the rest of the match. And Sourav has done a magnificent job for the team in the last few games. He has led from the front and I just hope he continues to do that."
Like Wright, all of India too hopes for Ganguly's good run to continue.
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