‘I want to be captain but I can wait’

‘‘Let it come when it comes. I am not in any hurry to lead the team at the moment. There are some seniors in the team who can handle the pressure,’’ Sehwag told The Sunday Express.

In the most fruitful period of his international career so far, the free-stroking batsman feels the time is not ripe for him to take charge. ‘‘At present, I am enjoying my role in the team as a batsman. Captaincy means a lot of responsibility. I am still in the learning process,’’ he said.

Though named vice-captain to Dravid for the last two ODIs against Pakistan, Sehwag sounds almost as if he doesn’t want the job. But he hastens to correct that impression. ‘‘It’s the ambition of every cricketer to become the skipper one day. I’m no different. I would be lying if I say that I am not interested in the job. But I am in no hurry. God willing, it (captaincy) will come. I don’t want to lose my sleep over such issues.’’ Sehwag has captained India in one match, against Bangladesh at Dhaka in a triangular tournament in 2003. It was just after the World Cup and, when most senior players cried off, Sehwag was named vice-captain to Ganguly.

This particular match — a dead tie — saw Ganguly sitting it out and Sehwag in charge. How did he fare? In a nutshell, he was active. When the hosts, batting first, began scoring freely, he pulled things back by shuffling the bowling.

And when India went out to bat, he led the run-chase in typically aggressive fashion, scoring 43 off 45; the captaincy had obviously not weighed him down. India won by four wickets, giving him a 100 per cent captaincy record!

(With Chandresh Narayanan)