SportsCenter's Dinesh Chopra caught up with Indian opener Gautam Gambhir for an exclusive chat.

DN: How will this tour of Sri Lanka be different from the previous one?

GG: It’s going to be pretty similar as we have played Sri Lanka so much. They know our strengths and weaknesses and we know theirs. It’s going to be a good challenge and at the same time you try and exploit each other’s weaknesses. It’s a challenge when we play someone so often and in their own backyard.

If we try and win the series this time, it will a great success for India.

DN: Don’t you think in Sehwag’s absence there will be extra pressure on you to lead the Indian batting order?

GG: Any team would miss Viru, especially after seeing him in the kind of form he was in the New Zealand. There’s no extra pressure as it is all about going out there and showing your talent, enjoying the game and giving hundred percent on the field.

DN: Do you still sleep with the TV remote in your hand?

GG: Yeah, I had sleepless nights when I was in the West Indies and didn’t score runs in the first two games, until the third match. That is the kind of pressure we face when we represent our country.

DN: Do you think you have extra advantage over Muttiah Muralitharan as in the past, left handers have been playing him better than right handers?

GG: You can never say there’s an advantage against Muralitharan. He is a great bowler, he has taken more than 700 wickets, and apart from that he is a great thinker of the game. I feel Murali is the toughest bowler I have ever faced.

DN: Two years back in 2007 things were very different in terms of your cricketing career, but this August you got the Arjuna Award. How has this journey been?

GG: To be very honest, it has not been that great as I have struggled a lot for every achievement that has come my way. I am very satisfied with my performance in the last one and a half years, not just because of the Arjuna Award but also with the contribution to the Indian team’s success which is more important than any thing else.

Receiving the award from the President of the country is a big honour.