BANGALORE: Virender Sehwag does not believe in astrology but rather rely on his own skills when it comes to ruling the 22 yards.
Fed up by suggestion and recommendations that he should wear jersey with specific numbers on it while playing, the flamboyant Indian opener went on to wear a numberless shirt in the fourth one-dayer against England on Sunday.
"I don't believe in astrology but my family members do. Too many people used to call up and pester me and my family to use different numbers.
"I was so fed up that I decided not to take any of their advice. We play Test matches without numbers and hence I don't use any number on my T-shirt," Sehwag, adjudged Man of the Match for his scintillating 69 in Bangalore, said.
Stressing that walking out with Sachin Tendulkar to open the innings is an honour for him, the India vice-captain said the senior batsman's return gives more option to the side in the opening slot.
After missing the first three matches against England, Tendulkar returned to the Indian side, a move that saw Sehwag's regular opening partner Gautam Gambhir dropping down to number three to accommodate the Mumbaikar.
Though Tendulkar contributed only 11 last night, Sehwag said India now have enough options to rotate the three openers.
"Now I think we have quite a few good options. If I am not in good form, Gautam can open with Sachin and if Gautam is not in good form I can open with Sachin. Walking out to open with Sachin again is a honour to me," said Sehwag.
Sehwag also praised the efforts of the seamers -- Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel - for helping India win the ODI against England.
"I think all the three fast bowlers did a wonderful job in shaping up the victory for us. Zaheer has been quite consistent in our recent wins while Ishant and Munaf bowled really well," Sehwag said.
According to him, the rain interruptions also favoured the hosts in Sunday's match.
"I think the two stoppages due to rain helped us somewhat though we did not have any plans for that. We were confident that if the Duckworth-Lewis method came into the picture we would have an advantage as we had scored around 106 runs for the loss of one wicket before the second interruption," he said.
Speaking about his attacking mood from the very first ball, Sehwag said nothing was planned as such but he went after the bowling only after seeing gaps on the field.
"I think there were quite a few gaps on the field when we went into bat and I went for the bowling from the word go. There was no plans to attack, it was just instinctive," the Delhi opener said.
