The 2008 battering in Chennai still fresh in mind, South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn on Thursday said he and his his bowling colleagues have arrived here with plans to tame Virender Sehwag in the forthcoming Test series against India. Sehwag had blasted a 304-ball 319 in that drawn Test with the help of 42 fours and five sixes but Steyn said the Proteas have already sorted out the Delhi dasher.
"It is a challenge. He showed us in Chennai that on flat wickets, he could score runs. But once we exploited what his biggest weaknesses were, he wasn't able to get away again after that," Steyn said at an interactive media meet ahead of the Test series opening here on Sunday. "We definitely have our game plans against somebody like him. What's happened in the past has happened in the past," Steyn.
Putting behind the two-year-old plastering, Steyn said, "It was definitely not the pitches, it was the mind-frame that we definitely got into. I am not giving everything away here, we still have got to play two Test matches against him. But whenever we go out to bowl in the Test match, you will obviously see what's going to be coming his way."
In fact, the 26-year-old right-arm pacer said, the South Africans have separate plans to silence all the Indian top guns. "I am not going to single out Sehwag because (Sachin) Tendulkar is also a marvellous player and he has shown what a record he has got. (Gautam) Gambhir too has shown what a record he has got.
"It's not specifically Sehwag that we are afraid of not to say that we are afraid of anybody. I am just saying that he is not the only key player in their side. There are massive other players that we are prepared well for and we will go out there and try to exploit their weaknesses," Steyn said.
The lanky pacer was also of the view that India would struggle to fill the void created by injuries to Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and V V S Laxman even though they have drafted in Rohit Sharma as a cover for the stylish Hyderabadi.
"I guess you could say yes with the absence of guys like Yuvraj, Rahul, and Laxman with their massive experience. If they fill them in with a couple of debutants, obviously that will play in our favour," he said. Steyn, however, warned his teammates not to underestimate the Indian youngsters, saying they were capable of springing a surprise or two.
"At Test level, you never replace experienced player with someone who is average or borderline average. You always replace him with somebody that has got equal quality. Certainly that's what we try and do in South Africa.
"Whoever steps in their places must have shown his worth at the domestic level and he will obviously step into those shoes knowing he is capable of playing at the highest level," Steyn pointed out. PTI
