Chappell wants horses for courses

Antigua: Indian coach Greg Chappell said that Irfan Pathan is down in confidence and hopes the medium pacer can turn it around by the time the first Test starts on Friday.

"He is struggling because he is down in confidence at the moment. He is probably trying a little bit too hard which is easy to do when things are not going well."

"We are hoping he can turn it around quickly," Chappell said after Pathan went for 70 runs in his 11 overs against Antigua XI on the opening day of the two-day practice match on Tuesday.

"Maybe he is trying to bowl a little bit quicker. It is confidence thing getting the ball in the right areas. You really don't have a big margin for error. If you get it too full or too short, these players will hit it," Chappell said.

Pathan's dismal form on the tour could probably force Chappell to rethink on his five-bowler theory.

"I still feel five bowlers is the way to go. But you want horses for courses and different conditions require different things," the coach said.

Chappell didn't want his team to repeat the mistakes which they did in the One-Day series to end up 1-4 losers.

"In the One-Day series, I don't think we adjusted to the conditions, batting or bowling. In bowling, we were just not consistent enough with the length. We varied too much."

"The West Indians bowled better than we did because they were more consistent with their line and length," Chappell said.

"Once you do so on slow wickets, it reduces the options the batting team have. We let them get too many runs and we didn't make too many runs ourselves."

The West Indian batsmen didn't allow the Indians to bowl a consistent line and length by coming down the track time and again.

Chappell didn't think his batsmen should follow the same method if they were to succeed.

"There's more ways than one to skin the cat. We don't all have to play the same way. No two batsmen are the same. We've got an experienced batting line-up. If we apply ourselves and bat as well as we can. Our methods are fine."

"When you try to play somebody else's way, it's then when you can get into trouble."

Chappell felt it was important that all his main players contributed and built partnerships in the Test matches.

"Batsmen need to spend time in the middle and get runs as quickly as possible. For a four-match series, you want everyone contributing along the way."

The spectre of too much cricket has raised its head again on this tour with the Indian players looking tired.

"You look tired when you are not winning. When we start winning, we wouldn't look so tired."