Virender Sehwag [Images], who smashed a scintillating unbeaten 247 against Pakistan on Monday, said the preparation of a flat track for the first Test betrayed the defensive mindset of the hosts.

Sehwag said the experience of India's last tour of Pakistan could have prompted the home team to prepare such a track.

"It was a defensive move by Pakistan after what had happened when they lost to us in Multan in the opening Test of the last series here," asserted the Indian batsman who put on a record 403-run unbroken partnership with his skipper Rahul Dravid [Images] (128) on the penultimate day of the match that is destined to end in a draw on Tuesday.

The Delhi batsman was pleased that his team could give a fitting reply to the hosts who had scored a massive 679 for seven declared in their first innings.

"We are very happy that we have given a fitting answer to the Pakistani total."

Asked whether Shoaib Akhtar [Images] had been tamed on the placid track, he said, "You only have to look at the scores. We have not lost any wicket so far while scoring over 400 runs. It's obvious he's not performed up to his team's expectations."

Sehwag also said the Indian bowlers had done better than their Pakistani counterparts on the Gaddafi Stadium track.

"We had taken seven wickets of theirs while they have taken none," he said.

On his return to form, Sehwag said he knew he was just one big innings away from running into form.

"I had said I was in form and needed only to convert 30s and 40s into bigger scores. And things have fallen back into place now with this big innings," he said.

Sehwag also said neither Dravid nor he were aware till returning to the dressing room that the opening stand they had put on so far was just 10 runs short of the world record partnership of 413 by another Indian pair -- Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy -- set 50 years ago in Chennai against New Zealand [Images].

"We came to know of it only after we came back," said Sehwag who had batted with a strap following an ankle injury he sustained while playing volleyball at the end of the third day's play in Lahore [Images] on Sunday.

Sehwag described the wicket here as the flattest ever he had come across, even more than the one at Multan when he made the Indian record-score of 309.

"This is the best wicket I have played on. The ball comes on to the bat and there's hardly any deviation off the wicket," he said while pointing out that he had scored quicker than at Multan when the light conditions allowed a whole day's play instead of the start and stop proceedings over the last two days here.

Sehwag, however, said he felt Dravid should not be opening the innings again.

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"No I don't think so. He's ideal at number three position. It's okay if he opens once in a while but not regularly," he said.

Asked whether he still felt the pain in his ankle, he said it felt better when he was wearing the anklet, but once he removed it, he did feel some pain.

Sehwag, who smashed his way to a 93-ball first 100, thereby bettering Sunil Gavaskar's [Images] previous Indian opener's mark by one ball, said he was not aware of this record as well.

"No, I didn't know this was a record," he said.

"I don't know what lies in store tomorrow but we (he and Dravid) would like to bat for an hour or so at least," he said when answering a question on India's strategy tomorrow.