Sehwag says no to 'catches pact'
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Indian opener Virender Sehwag says he is against a "catches pact" with Australia in the upcoming Test series, after bitter memories of the last tour Down Under.
"We suffered the most in the catches pact during the last series," Sehwag said ahead of the four-match series, starting in Bangalore tomorrow.
"There is no point in having such an arrangement when the Australians are claiming one-bounce catches.
"We'd have won the Sydney Test if they hadn't claimed catches off half-volleys in that game."
The Sydney Test ended the pre-series captains' agreement on taking the fielder's word on disputed catches, but Ricky Ponting recently said he was still open to the idea.
"I will have a think about it and see if I think it is the right idea to bring it up again," Ponting had said.
"Anil was the one who did not want that after the Sydney Test for one reason or the other.
"We will have a chat (before this series) and it's important to us Australians to play the game in the right spirit and embrace the culture."
The Sydney match also almost saw Anil Kumble's Indians pull out of the series after a string of controversial umpiring decisions.
The tourists agreed to continue only after the International Cricket Council pacified them by standing down West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor from the subsequent Perth Test.
Sehwag said the hosts held an edge in the coming series as they had a balanced bowling attack.
"Bangalore, Mohali and Nagpur (venues for Tests) have offered good bounce in the past and we can take advantage of these conditions with tall, fast bowlers," he said.
"If we have spinning tracks, we have the spinners to extract advantage. Their spin department is weak and there is a wide possibility we can win the series either 3-0 or 3-1."
Australia is hoping to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy it won by an identical 2-1 margin in the last two series in 2004 and earlier this year.
-AFP
