Pathan owes success to Chappell

Irfan Pathan praised his coach, Greg Chappell, for the improvement in his bowling after he picked up seven Zimbabawe wickets on the first day of the second Test at Harare.

"He has made big difference to me and to all of us," Pathan, who so far has picked up 16 wickets in three innings against Zimbabwe. "The big improvement has been about the consistency in length. I am using the crease far better and am also getting the bounce. There were better variations in my bowling today.

He admitted that the wicket was helpful but did not blame the Zimbabwe batsmen for the way they batted against him. "I thought they played the right way and I still had to earn my wickets," he remarked. "I generally bowled good balls today."

Pathan, who now has 61 Test wickets, said he still had a lot to learn and there was a great deal of improvement in store for him. "It is still early days in international cricket and two years is not quite enough time."

Zimbabwe's coach, Kevin Curran, was disappointed with the way his batsmen played Pathan and also criticised Andy Blignaut for poor line and length during India's innings.

"We played some bad shots and generally our batsmen did not seem aware on how to play swing bowling. Chris Coventry and Blignaut had a good stand going but then the latter was out to a poor shot."