Chappell backs Kaif to come good

While quietly content at the manner in which India had seen off a feeble English challenge in this game, Greg Chappell came out strongly in support of a couple of his embattled batsmen. Virender Sehwag and Mohammad Kaif are both going through a prolonged drought, but Chappell was certain that both would emerge from it stronger.

"Both Kaif and Sehwag are very experienced," he said. "Both have the skills to succeed and we will give both as many chances as we possibly can." When asked about Kaif in particular - he now has four zeroes and 4 in his last five one-day innings - Chappell harked back to his own horror-run in 1981-82. "I feel it's more of a mental thing," said Chappell. "The focus is not quite right, and the anxiety to succeed doesn't help you either."

When Chappell took over as coach last June, Kaif was one of the players to make an immediate positive impression, with his excellence in the field and reputation as a hard worker. He also started the season superbly, and was easily India's best batsmen in the tri-series in Zimbabwe. However, a hamstring injury picked up in the Challenger Trophy final caused him to miss the first five games against Sri Lanka, and he has found run-scoring a struggle since, with not even a half-century to his name.

Despite some of his stars misfiring, Chappell ruled out wholesale changes or drastic experimentation with four more matches left to play in the series. He did admit though that more of the squad players could be given opportunities to prove their worth. He was especially impressed with the impact made by Ramesh Powar when given his chance. "I am very happy with his bowling. He's a very clever bowler and got us important wickets in Faridabad. He's fitting into the team very well."

Another to make the most of his fortune has been Suresh Raina, who led the chase in Faridabad, and followed it up with an assured 61 in Goa. When asked if Raina had done enough to warrant a move up the order, Chappell said: "We'll have to see if it's in his best interests. We've eased him into the team, put him in some pressure situations, and he's done well for us. Maybe he's ready for more challenges."

The almost-inevitable and now-redundant query about a recall for Sourav Ganguly was met with a poker-faced "Who knows?" and he was visibly irritated with yet another query about the pace at which Irfan Pathan bowled. "He's not a fast bowler, but a swing bowler who has lot of variations. He took the wickets today with his change of pace, and we're very happy with that."

Chappell's curt response was understandable given how outstanding Pathan has been in the limited-overs game in recent times. Ineffectual with the SG ball in Tests, he's a vastly different proposition when armed with the white Kookaburra that he appears to swing almost at will. In his last six ODIs, he has taken 17 wickets and invariably given the team the perfect start.

There was nothing perfect about England's start, and Andrew Flintoff admitted that his team had been batted out of the game by Yuvraj and Raina. The pursuit of 295 was further affected by the absence of Kevin Pietersen, ruled out this morning with a stomach bug. "When you lose a player of Kevin's ability, it's a big loss," said Flintoff. "But you've got to get on with it."

He smiled wanly when asked about the sweep that caused his downfall, and said: "What I was thinking then [with gloved hand clutching helmet grilled in despair] ... well, this is an inappropriate time and place to say it.

"This is a very good Indian side. But there are four games left, and we've still got to believe that we can win it. If we win the next two, we'll be right back in it. But the team knows that we've got a mountain to climb."

Unless he and Pietersen can emulate Yuvraj's big hitting, and the bowling improves drastically, England could find that the rest of the series is as arduous as trying to climb Everest without oxygen.