Australia tour will not reopen old wounds, says Sehwag

By N.Ananthanarayanan

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Virender Sehwag played down on Friday the prospects of further bad blood in the forthcoming series against Australia after a racism row marred the previous meeting between the two sides.

"Whatever happened last time ended there," Sehwag told reporters at a series launch held by broadcasters Neo Sports.

"We will try to play tough cricket not through words but with the ball."

India threatened to pull out of the series in January after spinner Harbhajan Singh was initially found guilty of racially abusing all-rounder Andrew Symonds in the acrimonious second test in Sydney.

A standoff between the teams was ended after the charge was downgraded on appeal to using abusive language and the bowler let off with a fine. Australia won the series 2-1.

The issue was revived after Symonds was omitted from the touring squad named on Friday for disciplinary reasons after missing a compulsory team meeting to go fishing.

"We are happy he is not coming because he can change the course of a match any time," Sehwag said. "He bats at number five and can bowl too, so it will be to our advantage.

"He is a very good player and you need such players to lift the competition. It is a loss for cricket, but we're happy."