India's comprehensive victory in the fourth-one day international against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens ensured two personal records for stand-in captain Virender Sehwag.
Asked to take charge for two matches after Team India's slow over-rate at Nagpur handed incumbent M S Dhoni a two-match ban, Sehwag fulfiled his responsibility by leading the team to commanding victories in both.
The wins at Cuttack and Kolkata meant Sehwag now has a positive record as captain -- four wins in seven one-day matches. Secondly, India's series win was also a first for him as captain.
And, as he hands over the reigns of captaincy back to Dhoni, Sehwag was
thanked his stars that India sealed the series at the Eden Gardens.
"We were not sure of the wicket in New Delhi," admitted Sehwag, adding, "so it was important for us to win this game and finish off the series as it was a batting track here.
"Now the pressure would be on the Lankans in the final match."
Sehwag heaped praise on his Delhi teammates Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, the duo who ensured India a comfortable win even after they had lost two early wickets.
"I think the Delhi batsmen are always hungry for runs. They score a lot of runs in domestic circuit and try to prove themselves whenever they get a chance at the international level," he said.
"Gautam (Gambhir) did that, I did that and now Virat is scoring runs. It's great to have so many players from Delhi scoring runs," he added.
"Virat Kohli is very talented; it is good to see him performing and get such a knock. Also, all credit to Gautam for guiding him throughout." On the eve of the match Sehwag had stressed the need for the youngsters to rise to the occasion and perform in the absence of big players.
And their performance on Thursday did leave him satisfied.
"It's very important that youngsters like Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and
Ravindra Jadeja get among the runs and play 80-90 matches ahead of the World Cup. If we get the full strength side, you never know, we may win the World Cup," he said.
Finally, even though the Indian bowling was again found lacking, the captain was quick to defend his bowlers.
"I don't want to blame the bowlers, as they are working hard," said Sehwag, before adding as an afterthought, "rather than blaming my bowlers let me praise the Sri Lankan batsmen for batting so well."
