March 26, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1429

CHENNAI, March 25: Soaring temperature and intense humidity is playing on the minds of rival captains ahead of India’s three-Test series against South Africa.

South Africa skipper Graeme Smith said a major challenge in the opening Test was the weather in Chennai, where the mercury has touched 33 degrees Celsius with 90 percent humidity.

“India is one of the best teams in world cricket now, but coming out to India we also need to manage the conditions,” Smith said on Tuesday, on the eve of the series opener.

“I’m pretty sure the heat’s going to be a factor at some stage in this game. How we manage through the next five days is going to be crucial,” Smith said. “Mentally we’re prepared to play our brand of cricket and executing it.”

South Africa has a 9-4 win-loss record from 19 Tests against India, including an impressive 3-3 Test performance on Indian soil, where their 2-0 triumph in 1999-2000 marked a rare home Test series loss for India in the past two decades.

“We’re a confident team at the moment, but then the Indians possess one of the better teams they’ve had,” Smith said.

And with No 2 in the Test rankings on the line, there’s more at stake for both teams.

India moved to No 2 following an impressive recent tour of Australia, where they lost 2-1 in a contentious series.

Skipper Anil Kumble said he wants to increase the two-point buffer over South Africa ahead of home series later in the year against Australia and England.

“After the good work in Australia, we have a lot of Test cricket coming up and we’re all geared up,” said Kumble, whose spin-bowling partnership with Harbhajan Singh could prove to be significant factor in against South Africa.

South African batsmen have not relished facing quality spinners on the subcontinent’s low-bounce tracks.

India’s Sachin Tendulkar has no such concerns and needs only 172 runs to become the highest run-scorer in Test cricket history.

Tendulkar has 11,782 runs in 146 Tests, and is second behind former West Indian skipper Brian Lara’s 11,953 from 133 matches.

“If we do well and win the series, it’ll give us a bit more lead in keeping the No 2 position,” said Kumble, adding that the key to winning was for his batsmen to post big totals.

“Playing at home we’ve always managed to post big scores. Once we do that we can put pressure on the rivals,” he said.

Plotting India’s success will be their new coach Gary Kirsten, a former South African Test opener.

Smith said the South African team was not hassled at seeing Kirsten in the opposition camp.

“As a person we respect Gary, he’s a guy who had a big impact on me as a young player,” said Smith. “But his position in the Indian camp is not something that fazes us hugely.”

Teams (from):

INDIA: Anil Kumble (captain), Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman, Mahendra Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, R.P. Singh, Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, Yuvraj Singh, Piyush Chawla.

SOUTH AFRICA: Graeme Smith (captain), Neil McKenzie, A.B. de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, Jean-Paul Duminy, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher, Morne Morkel, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Monde Zondeki.

Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and Tony Hill (New Zealand).

TV umpire: Amish Saheba (India).

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka).—AP