New Delhi:He might be known to have unflinchingly stuck to his ‘see the ball and hit it’ batting approach irrespective of match situations in his playing days, but former India opener Virender Sehwag says that he made changes in his techniques early in his career to emulate iconic Sachin Tendulkar.

“When I was growing up, I played a lot of 10- and 12-over games, I would bat in middle order. I got only 10-odd balls to face and I tried to score as much as I could.

“I was just playing my game and not thinking that I have to score quickly or do something different except when I joined the [Indian] team and wanted to bat like [Sachin] Tendulkar. I realised there could be only one Tendulkar and I changed my stance and back lift. I realised I should change my game and I did it.

After that, I was playing with my own technique,” he told ESPNCricinfo. Sehwag, now 37, last played for India in 2013 after scoring 8586 runs from 104 Tests and 8273 runs from 251 ODIs. Asked if there was only one Sehwag as well, he said, “Yes, because of my mindset and the impact I had on the team but there was only one Tendulkar.” Domestic woes Sehwag, who recently shifted to Haryana from Delhi in domestic cricket, agreed that many state associations were not run efficiently. “Yes. It’s not just Delhi. There are other associations which have problems. You need to change things at U-19 and U-16 level because that’s problem area. If you pick over-age players, it is a problem that needs to be identified” he said. IPL’s positives The spot-fixing scandal in the IPL has rocked the cricketing world like never before, but Sehwag would still bat for the cash-rich T20 event. “I think it is a platform for a young Indian player. Players like Ravindra Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan, [David] Warner, Glenn Maxwell were noticed at IPL first. It is a platform for players all over the world.” –PTI