Sehwag hints rest in last tie,says lack of partnership cost the tie

Jamshedpur, Apr 12 (UNI) While hinting at himself not playing the last tie at Indore and Robin Uthappa making a debut, stand-in skipper Virender sehwag said one partnership with Dhoni up the order could have made today's one-dayer against England here more competitive.

Talking to reporters after the match, the stand-in skipper said, ''I may not play the last game. Robin Uthappa will play at Indore.'' Asked why was he to take rest when he needed a big innings, he said, ''Sometimes when you play too much cricket, you stop thinking about the game. You need to take rest and take the mind off cricket.'' Sehwag, who was booed while making his way into the ground, said he backed the policy of rotation and experimentation, stating that it was a young side preparing for next year's World Cup.

''We are a young side preparing for the World Cup and it was obvious that when you have young players and five specialist bowlers it will be a long tail.'' ''Dhoni played brilliantly. He showed us that the wicket was easy. All we needed was a big partnership up the order with Dhoni.

It didn't happen today and that cost us the match,'' said the batsman from Delhi.

Quizzed about his loss of form, he said, ''When you score people cheer and when you don't they don't spare you. It's a matter of one big innings.'' Sehwag also expressed concern about the current form of Mohammed Kaif.

The stand-in captain also confirmed that Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be rested in the last tie at Indore.

''He is playing for the last one year without any rest. He deserves it more than anyone,'' Sehwag said.

Sehwag, however, regretted at not being able to break the Keenan jinx. ''We will do our best to win here next time when we come to play here. I regret not having won here.'' He lauded the English approach to the game and the guts and fire with which they bowled today. He had select praises for his counterpart Andrew Strauss who he thought played a gem of an innings and took the game away from them.

''Strauss gave them a brilliant start and they never looked back after that,'' Sehwag said.

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