South Africa’s victorious captain, Graeme Smith, spoke to the Media after the handsome five-wicket win at Newlands. The following are excerpts:

“To win the series from 0-1 down is huge... We never gave up and showed character... At stumps on the first day, the Indians were 254 for three, but we fought back... Naturally, there was a bit of panic when rain forced the interruption (on Saturday morning), for you never know when it’s going to stop...

“(Shaun Pollock) Polly and I gave the innings momentum and it’s then that the Indians began to panic... I’d told Polly last night that he may be required to bat with me in the morning... If there was reverse swing, then he could seize the initiative... Promoting him wasn’t just to do with his batting, but his head as well... Luckily it worked.

“Yesterday (Day IV), after lunch, we knew we had to squeeze the Indian batsmen out... Some people said we were a bit negative with (Paul Harris) Harry bowling into the rough, but we had to make sure the Indians got nowhere...

“There has already been enough criticism in the Media for the groundsmen to know they didn’t get it right... It’s disappointing to find a wicket which offers so much assistance to the spinners... We hope things will be different when Pakistan play here...

“After the game got over, we said to ourselves that if (Sachin) Tendulkar had bowled 20 overs, things could’ve been very different... He’s such an intelligent bowler and has a googly that’s hard to pick... Our strategy against Anil Kumble was to make sure he didn’t settle down...”