January 14, 2006	Saturday	Zilhaj 13, 1426

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LAHORE, Jan 13: Indian coach, Greg Chappell on Friday gave credit to Pakistani batsmen for dominating the opening day of the first cricket Test.

Though satisfied with his bowler’s effort on a flat pitch, he applauded Pakistani batsmen for taking advantage of a good batting strip and putting their side in a strong position.

The Indian coach believed that had the bowlers succeeded in taking a couple of wickets in the first session they could have applied pressure on the home side.

On the issue of not considering regular openers Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Jaffar, Chappell said it was part of team strategy as they preferred experience and included Saurav Ganguly.

He was, however, non-committal if Ganguly would open the innings, saying the decision would be taken according to the situation.

Former batsman Sunil Gavaskar had suggested inclusion of three openers in order to face the fiery pace attack of Pakistan.

The coach was of the view that on last two days the pitch could be a different one but added only time would tell.

Younis Khan and Muhammad Yousuf said they played Indian medium-pacer Irfan Pathan and leg-spinner Anil Kumble according to the advice given by Bob Woolmer.

The former admitted that Kumble had been troubling the Pakistani batsmen but he tried to play him on front-foot and it proved successful.

“The first session was difficult but after lunch there was less advantage for the bowlers,” he said.

He was of the view that same kind of pitches were in India and even in Australia, as they changed characters on every day and he could not predict what would be the behaviour of this wicket in the coming days.

He said there would be moisture in the morning on Saturday and he could not say any thing about completing double century.

Younis, who failed to perform well in the home series against England, believed that Indian attack was a good one as they proved against Sri Lanka and South Africa in recent series.

Yousuf called his knock a good one and was not worried that he could not complete his century on the first day.