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Chappell disappointed with batting

Special Correspondent

Cape Town: Greg Chappell said he was disappointed with the Indian batting in the last two Tests. He added, "Some of the guys will be under pressure."

The Indian coach admitted that the pacing of the second innings here was awry - "We lost momentum in the middle session on yesterday (Friday)."

Asked about the performance of some of the senior players on the tour, he replied, "This is not the place for me to talk about this. I will discuss it with the Board and the selectors when we get back to India."

Hard to escape

Queried whether a few of the senior cricketers did not perform under pressure, he replied, "that's hard to escape, isn't it. It will be discussed in the future weeks." Chappell lauded the performance of the younger cricketers.

On Virender Sehwag opening in the second innings, he said, "He had made 40 in the first innings and we thought it would be a good gamble to ask him to open in the second on this wicket, which was more like an Indian surface. Dinesh Karthik had kept wickets for a lot of overs." He also pointed out that Sehwag was not the only Indian batsman who failed.

Chappell had words of appreciation for Sourav Ganguly though. "He did what was expected of him. His performance on the fourth day after he was rushed out to open was exceptional," said the coach.

Praise for pacemen

He had words of praise for pacemen S. Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan. On Anil Kumble not delivering in the second innings here, Chappell said, "He bowled pretty well. Actually, the wicket did not deteriorate, it was not offering much to the bowlers."

Chappell said India wanted to retain the three pacemen-one spinner formula for the last Test. "Harbhajan had also not bowled for nearly a month."

On paceman Munaf Patel bowling very little in the second innings, Chappell said, "It was not a fitness issue. Zaheer was fresh after resumption and he was bowling so well. You should actually ask Rahul (Dravid) the question."

Special win

South African captain Greame Smith described the victory as special. "It's hard to recover in a three-Test series, but we kept believing in our ability."

Smith said South Africa got back in the match after lunch on day four when Shaun Pollock and Paul Harris made scoring runs very difficult. "Still 211 was not an easy target on this wicket. We batted well."

The skipper said Pollock was sent at No. 4 was to seize the initiative from the Indian bowlers. "He (Pollock) has a very good cricketing brain," said the skipper about the Man of the Series.

On Sachin Tendulkar brought in late in the innings, he said, "He was really spinning the ball. We were just discussing... if he had bowled 20 overs."

He described Ashwell Prince as a "serious player under pressure."

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