Termed as the world’s best opening pair in the current times, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag were ready for the IPL action in South Africa starting from the 18th of April.

Gambhir said that the IPL would be an ideal platform to gain quality T20 experience before the start of the Twenty20 World cup scheduled in England.

“It’s a blessing in disguise for us to play IPL in South Africa before the Twenty20 World Cup. We hardly get to play Twenty20 matches. But to get the chance to play 14 to 15 games in IPL against world class players will definitely help us in our preparations for defending the crown,” the stocky left hander mentioned.

Gambhir has had a dream series against New Zealand and would look forward to continue his good form going into the second season of the IPL. Gambhir laid emphasis on the fact that success in international cricket mainly depended on the security of the player’s position in the team.

Gambhir’s opening partner Sehwag, spoke about the condition of pitches in South Africa and the help it offered to the pacers. “Pacers will undoubtedly have an edge in South Africa because of pace and bounce but that’s good for batters too as they can play their shots on such conditions,” the Delhi dasher said, while speaking to newspaper reporters during a send off event organized for the Daredevils team.

Sehwag also mentioned that the Delhi crowd would be missed by him and his team during the IPL 2009. “We will miss Delhi crowd in South Africa but hopefully, there will be sufficient support for us in South Africa,” he said.
Source – cricbuzz.com