When his audacity cost "Veeru" his wicket!

Visakhapatnam, Feb 17 (UNI) An out of form Virender Sehwag found his rhythm when it mattered most, but fell victim to careless running in the fourth and final ODI against Sri Lanka here today.

The last time when he played here in 2005, ''Veeru'' tore the Pakistani attack to shreds with a scintillating 74. And this time too, the 28 year-old Delhi star could not have asked for a better setting to get back his touch.

Egged on by the capacity crowd looking forward for his big hitting, Sehwag announced his return to form ahead of the World Cup, cutting and driving with aplomb.

But as he seemed well set for a big score came his dismissal in a rather unfortunate way: after hitting the Lankan speedster Lasith Malinga to the third man, he took off for the run. But he was only walking.

Fervez Mahroof's throw from the deep came straight to wicket keeper Sangakkara. Realising that Sehwag was still walking on and was yet to reach other end, Sangakkara, after holding the ball for a few seconds, threw down the the stumps at the non-striker's end with a direct hit.

The decision was left to the third umpire who ruled ''Veeru'' out after watching the TV replays. Sehwag's foot was just on the line when the stumps were disturbed and the Indian, who was well set for a big score, had to pay the penalty for his lackaidaisical and casual approach.

Sehwag scored 46 runs off 44 balls with seven fours during his 90-minute stint at the crease.

The Najafgarh-born cricketer and the only Indian to score a triple hundred in a Test match, had made it to the World Cup squad purely on past reputation and was badly in need of a big score to regain his confidence and touch. But he wasted the opportunity and paid dearly.

This was Sehwag's best performance in recent months since he made 65 against Australia in the Champions trophy. Since then he had been struggling to regain form and could only manage scores of 0, 18 and 11 in the three ODIs he had played in South Africa.

After the series, he was dropped from the team and was asked to play in domestic cricket to get his basics right again. He was also ignored for the recent four-match home ODI series against the West Indies. But the selectors reposed faith on him and drafted him for this series in which he scored 19 and 12 in the second and third matches at Rajkot and Goa respectively.

Sehwag last scored a century in early 2005 when he made 108 against Pakistan at Kochi. Since then he had played more than 50 matches but failed to score a hundred, though he had a couple of 90-plus scores.

UNI