Chappell happy with show, says Irfan would bat at no. 3 more often

New Delhi, Oct 16 (UNI) His detractors may not like it but Greg Chappell asserted he would continue experimentations and said Irfan Pathan would be seen more often batting at the number three position.

In an interview with Aaj Tak, the Aussie made it clear that he is going to tinker with the batting order and sending Irfan bat at number three serves the team purpose.

''Irfan is a big match performer and the way he batted yesterday (against England) served our purpose as by the time he got out, the match was safe,'' he explained.

Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag opened against England yesterday and according to Chappell, sending Irfan at number three allows a left-right combination which creates problem for the opposition.

Chappell showered praise on Munaf Patel, describing the pacer as a match-winner, who makes a big difference to the team's performance, and also had a word of encouragement for the out-of-form Suresh Raina.

''Raina is a bright young prospect in the team and gives 100 per cent to the team. There's nothing wrong with him and the way he fielded yesterday was a delight to watch. ''In the future, we will see more of his bowling,'' Chappell said.

Chappell, meanwhile, ruled out large-scale experimentations and said, ''There will not be many surprises but there could be different combinations and with each game we can try the best combination. That's what we are looking for.

''Players' development, experience and learning can not be achieved by batting or bowling in the nets. One has to perform in real situations,'' he explained.

And Team India may have stuttered to a four-wicket win, chasing a winning target as paltry as 126, Chappell is satisfied with the show.

''I'm satisfied with the performance of the team,'' he said and refused to call batting a concern.

''Some games favour bowling, whereas others favour the batsmen.

But the great thing is that we won the match and the batsmen did their job.

''Yuvraj (Singh) is playing well, Sachin (Tendulkar) is back in form and Rahul (Dravid) is good most of the times. In any case, you need 2-3 batsmen to do well to win a match,'' he reasoned.

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