India start as favourites - Graeme Smith

Graeme Smith is an imposing figure and a bull-headed batsman, but that's on the field. Mindgames in press conferences are not his thing, nor South Africa's. They haven't made statements in the past about ageing cricketers in the opposition, nor how their opponents play "old-school" cricket, and they don't predict scorelines. They come in quietly confident, manage to stay low-key, and surprise the opposition.

That they have been the most successful visiting team in India over the past 10 years always manages to stay a surprise. They have won one series, lost one and drawn one, which is better than Australia's one win and two losses. On none of those three occasions did South Africa come in as favourites but in all of those series they stretched India to the extreme.

Their first press conference on arriving in India for this series - one that will decide who stays No. 1 for a considerable duration of 2010 - was no different. Ask Smith about India being vulnerable without Rahul Dravid, and he says there is still enough quality in the line-up. Ask him about his team's good record in India, and he reminds all that it was the box that wasn't ticked when they beat both Australia and England in away series in 2008.

Smith did talk about the No. 1 ranking but if you were the host broadcaster trying to cash in on the stakes, you could have done with better headlines. Smith conceded India were No. 1 for a reason, and were the favourites going into the series.

"India have played good cricket to get there", Smith said. "We have had recent success in terms of having had that ranking. But it's not really an issue for us, we have come over to India to play good cricket, to focus on our own game, and we know if we can perform to our levels and standards, we will be able to put India under a lot of pressure.

"Any time you come to India, it's always tough, you always probably start as underdogs. India are favourites going into this series. If this series was in South Africa, probably we would have been favourites. In the subcontinent, India have proven to be difficult to beat at any stage throughout nine years of my international career."

The build-up back home was not ideal, with Mickey Arthur stepping down as coach less than a week ago. The bad timing hasn't been helped by South Africa's schedule: they come to India - a change of weather, a change of pitches and outfield, a change of the whole ethos from the series they played against England - with only five days to prepare for the first of two Tests. Even a day's delay in acclimatising could result in an unassailable deficit.

While Smith acknowledged the disadvantage that comes with a crunched schedule, he didn't hide behind it. "International cricket today doesn't allow you too much time," he said. "This tour has been changed a couple of times, from one-day tour to Test tour to sort of both, which is great for cricket that we can play Tests and one-dayers here.

"But we know we have got the five days, and we have to make the most of that. There is a lot to jam in those five days, especially for Corrie [van Zyl, the interim coach], who has just come in. There is a lot for us to do, the most important thing to do is to get the specifics right, and make sure you are making the most of the each day you are given. The two-day game [their only practice game, against the Board President's XI] is an important part of it. To acclimatise to these pitches, getting our brains working in the right way, and really start enjoying playing the brand of cricket you have to play in the subcontinent."

It was not just fancy words: they spent a healthy five hours training at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, the venue of their tour game, a day after the entire team showed up for an optional training session hours after landing in Nagpur. On Monday the players went through rigorous drills, under the supervision of their coaches - van Zyl, Kepler Wessels (batting), Vincent Barnes (bowling) and Rob Walter (the conditioning coach who also assists in the fielding department).

While Smith didn't harp on India's weaknesses or their strengths or the hype around the No. 1 ranking, he was a confident man thanks to his side's record in the subcontinent of late. "We won in Pakistan on our last tour there, we won in Bangladesh, we came very close to winning the series here in India", he said. "We were one-love going into the last Test so I think generally we have played well. I think we have got a very positive mindset when it comes to playing in the subcontinent, which is important. The guys have been together for a period of time, we really enjoy coming to play in India."