Johannesburg: India’s victory over Australia in Adelaide was hailed by the South Africa and West Indies captains.

“It’s great for cricket,” Graeme Smith said about the Adelaide result after his team’s 189-run win over the West Indies in the first Test at the Wanderers.

“It was a fantastic achievement by India to win away from home, especially as they have not played much Test cricket this year. It is great to see someone beat Australia at home,” remarked the South Africa skipper.

Brian Lara also said India’s come-from-behind triumph was “great for the game”.

Lara noted that India had downed the world’s number one team and that South Africa were ranked second. “Maybe our turn will come in Durban,” the Windies captain said of the second Test starting December 26.

Kirmani advice

Syed Kirmani, former India stumper and now chairman of selection committee, described the win as “fabulous” but added in the same breath that Sourav Ganguly and his men should put in a consistent performance in the remainder of the series, a report says from Bangalore.

“It was a brilliant performance and a fabulous win. We are proud of it. Consistency needs to be preserved in the next two Tests”, Kirmani said. (agencies)