'Playing in IPL no disadvantage'

Sehwag dismissed the notion that India would be at a disadvantage because the entire squad, busy playing IPL till April 25, would not have time to train together before the World Cup starting on April 30 in the West Indies and said playing matches is far better than having net sessions.

"I'm not too worried about us not being all together until just before the tournament starts as we're all practising together here in India during the IPL and it's good to be playing T20 matches rather than practicing for four hours," said Sehwag.
Besides, he pointed out, it was the same with most other countries as well.

"It's not just the India players getting practice, there are players from all over the world playing in the IPL and getting the practice before the tournament starts," Sehwag was quoted as saying in the Twenty20 World Cup newsletter.

India won the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 in South Africa and Sehwag sounded optimistic of the team's chances because of the presence of a number of match-winners in their ranks.

"I think in the India team Yusuf Pathan, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir -- these are the key players. When you look at the other teams, I think they all have two or three good players who if they fire on that day then they can win the matches," Sehwag said.
2007 losing finalists Pakistan won the title in 2009 after defeating Sri Lanka in the summit clash and Sehwag expected the Asian teams to do well in the Caribbeans again.
Explaining why the Asians have been doing well in the mega event, the swashbuckling right-hander said, "I think because the game is shorter and as I've said previously any player can beat any team on any given day. For example, in the Pakistan side they have a couple of players who can beat Australia or the West Indies single-handedly and similarly in the India team there are a lot of guys who have that match-winning or match-changing potential.

"It's great to see that in the last two ICC World Twenty20s that both finals have been competed between three Asian sides. Of course India beat Pakistan and in England it was Sri Lanka that made the finals. I very much hope again that this year at least one of the Asian teams qualifies for the finals," Sehwag said.