Virender Sehwag has reiterated his stand that Bangladesh are not good enough to take 20 wickets against India.
It was another grim press conference where he initially refused to entertain any questions on his statement on Bangladesh's bowling, but eventually Sehwag decided to answer. "Next question," was his reply when the topic was first raised by a journalist. Finally he answered, albeit in monosyllables, when the issue was repeatedly brought up.
Asked whether he felt Bangladesh could now take 20 Indian wickets, Sehwag's answer came pat: "No. They can't. They still didn't get 20 wickets."
Bangladesh took eight second-innings wickets, an 18 overall, before India declared their second innings. The next question was whether the declaration was done so that Bangladesh did not take 20 wickets. "I had to declare because I wanted to win the game," Sehwag said before he let out a smile.
Sehwag was also asked his thoughts on Bangladesh's performance and he said, "They didn't bat well. They bowled well in the first innings because the conditions helped them. We batted well in the second innings and scored over 400 runs."
The talk moved to India's performance and about Ishant Sharma's bowling before it returned once again to the same issue. "You don't have a good record against Bangladesh. You said you wanted to score some runs this time. Are you satisfied with your batting in this Test?"
"Yes, I am," was Sehwag's short answer.
"He batted well," was his response when asked about Mushfiqur Rahim's innings today. Just before he came to the press conference, Sehwag was booed as he walked up to talk to Ravi Shastri in the post-match ceremony. "You are very popular here, aren't you," Shastri asked.
"Yes, Indian cricketers are popular here in Bangladesh," replied Sehwag.
