Calcutta: South Africa "have a score to settle" when the series against India begins with the first Test in Cape Town on Friday.

The Proteas were thrashed 0-3 in Tests when they toured India late in 2015 - the last time the two teams clashed in the longest version. Captain Faf du Plessis hardly minced words to say that it's payback time now.

"I don't know when the next Test series against India is. But it's probably the last time all of us play against India and there's no better way than playing a series here in South Africa.

"We were disappointed the last time we went there and we've got a score to settle, so we're excited about this series," Du Plessis said at pre-match media conference on Thursday.

His counterpart Virat Kohli seems to be at his peak at present, but the India captain is not at all the focal point of the strategy South Africa have devised for a successful home series, Du Plessis said.

"I see it as South Africa against India, not as a rivalry between Kohli and myself. We don't look at Virat. He doesn't get more time than any of the other Indian batsmen.

"He is, of course, a very good player. His stats don't lie. We have some plans for him, but I am not going to tell you what they are.

"We are hoping we can put some pressure on him. If we can keep him quiet, we have a much better chance."

Du Plessis didn't completely rule out going in with four seamers in the opening Test, but said that when it comes to selecting Dale Steyn, it certainly is a "tough call". <>"This selection is probably one of the hardest that we have to make. It's a possibility, especially up on the Highveld, to play four seamers, but we're still talking about what could be our strongest XI.

"As for Dale, yes, I'm looking at him, though it's a tough call." For me, he is the best bowler in the world. He hasn't played for a while and he hasn't got the overs that he would have wanted."

"But facing Dale at nets, it appears his skills haven't gone anywhere. He has got the same pace and the same swing. Skills wise, it's like he has just jumped back on that bicycle and is riding again," the captain elaborated.

Talking about the pitch, Du Plessis is happy as he believes South Africa have got exactly what they wanted. "The groundsman has done a fantastic job... It's going to be a good cricket wicket. Nothing extreme.

"It looks like it's going to be exactly what we wanted."

Asked which is more important - bounce or lateral movement - Du Plessis replied: "In a perfect world, it will be a quick wicket that nips around a bit. We also want to try and eliminate spin as much as possible.

"When we played Sri Lanka here last time, it was a really good wicket. You don't want excessive seam movement because that brings both bowling attacks into the game.

"We feel with our seam resources, on a wicket that has some pace and bounce, we can exploit some of those areas in their batting line."

The time he spent out of the field was frustrating at times, but at the moment, Du Plessis is ready to return and play. "It was frustrating at times because everything happened slower than I thought it would.

"It's 11 weeks now and I just feel now like I'm ready to play. Obviously, time at home was nice and the good thing is I didn't miss much cricket for South Africa.

"I'm extremely hungry to play again. I would have liked to play against Zimbabwe to get some batting, but the batting feels good and hopefully, I can take off from here," he said.