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Aussies wary of Sehwag

Lon - Australia's players have crafted tactics to subdue opener Virender Sehwag and deny India an early advantage in the first Test, Australia cricket coach Tim Nielsen said on Wednesday.

Sehwag is known for his hard-hitting and dominating the opposition's bowling attack with his rich stroke-play, easing pressure on his team-mates in the process.

"He has such a damaging effect at the top of the order and we have spoken about that. The individual players have plans on how to counter his aggressive style of play," Nielsen said ahead of the opening Test starting on Friday.

"It makes it so much easier for Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Venkatsai Laxman if they are batting on the back of a whirlwind 90 or a hundred from Sehwag. He certainly goes a long way to setting up their innings."

Sehwag, the only Indian to have hammered a Test triple-century, has so far scored 7 039 runs in 79 Tests with 21 hundreds.

The Australian coach said India had the bowlers to press home the advantage given by the hard-hitting opener.

"Sehwag sets it up with the bat and the bowling unit works well as a group," said Nielsen.

"Everybody talks a lot about their individual bowlers, but as a bowling group they are a consistent unit. They have played together for quite a while.

"Ishant Sharma (paceman) burst onto the scene when he played against Australia at home. Zaheer Khan has become the leader of the attack, and Harbhajan Singh (spinner) has more than 350 Test wickets."

Australian batsman Michael Hussey and fast bowler Doug Bollinger joined the squad in Mohali after participating in the Twenty20 Champions League in South Africa.

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