Almost a final

An out-of-form king is back in his kingdom © Getty Images

"We try and treat every game as a final," said Mark Boucher, South Africa's wicketkeeper, ahead of the fifth game of a series entering its last lap. "We went through a bit of a bad trot before we came good and had this good run and we remind ourselves all the time about what it felt like to lose all those games in a row. That's probably why we've done well in the past few games." After the thumping ten-wicket win at Kolkata, South Africa remain the clear favourites for the final game at Mumbai but the Indians would do well to apply the South African method - remind themselves of how it felt to lose and be jeered at by their own supporters and come back firing to square the series.

Biff, bang, bludgeon

At the start of the series, Graeme Smith averaged 2.33 in the four games against India but he's made amends in spectacular fashion. He's unsettled the Indian seamers with his exaggerated walk across the stumps, smeared the loose ones with brute force, triggered a rapid start in the first game, and made an emphatic statement with his personal best of 134 at Kolkata. He's also walked the talk - chiding India for `hiding Dhoni' - while leading with bully-like aggression, and taken on the rampant Indians with admirable felicity. At 25, Smith has already seen a number of peaks and troughs but victory here would mean that he achieved what Clive Rice, Kepler Wessels and Hansie Cronje, shrewd leaders all, couldn't manage on their trips to India - a one-day series triumph.

The undisclosed XIs

Both camps refused to divulge any details about their playing XIs and Boucher was confident that Makhaya Ntini, who missed the previous game owing to illness, would return. After his fine allround performance at Kolkata, Andrew Hall should retain his spot while Justin Ontong, an asset with his electric presence in the field, was likely to be utilised as the Supersub. Rahul Dravid hinted at the difficulties of chasing on this ground, under lights with the dew causing problems, and might decide to go in with the extra batting option, Gautam Gambhir, as the Supersub.

Pitched battles

Natural elements have played their part in this series and it's tough to discount the nature of the pitches while analysing the scoreline. As well as they have played, South Africa undoubtedly had the better of the conditions at Hyderabad and Kolkata while India thrived on a slow turner at Bangalore. A smattering of grass could be seen on the pitch at the Wankhede and both camps predicted that it to be a good, firm track with Boucher adding, "There's a little bit of grass on, which we weren't really expecting." When queried about the grassy pitch offered at Kolkata, Dravid insisted that the batsmen had let themselves down and felt that the better team would win the game, irrespective of the nature of the surface.

Saachin, Saachin

It's a chant that has reverberated in most grounds around the country but it appears a bit louder when Sachin Tendulkar bats at the cauldron that is the Wankhede Stadium. South Africa will remember the brilliant hundred he made against them here in 1997 and his three half-centuries have been equally exhilarating. He will start the game with a poor run of scores, with his form having dipped after the magical return in the opening two games against Sri Lanka, but nobody can count him out, especially when performing in his own kingdom.

Testing times

India's 6-1 steamrolling of Sri Lanka had the nation in a frenzy but Greg Chappell insisted that India's biggest test would come when they were pushed to the corner, when someone challenged them blow for blow. Now, on the back of a thumping loss, they are confronted with a must-win game against opponents who have won 18 of their last 22 matches. It's a stern examination, and one which South Africa would have tackled on their way to becoming the second-best one-day side.

Teams

India (likely) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Yuvraj Singh, 4 Rahul Dravid (capt), 5 Mohammad Kaif, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Murali Kartik, 11 RP Singh, Supersub: Gautam Gambhir.

South Africa (likely) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Andrew Hall, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Ashwell Prince, 5 Justin Kemp, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Shaun Pollock, 8 Johan Botha, 9 Andre Nel, 10 Charl Langeveldt, 11 Makhaya Ntini, Supersub: Justin Ontong.