"Their clinical approach especially with their bowling on certain Indian pitches works for South Africa better than most teams that have toured here" © AFP Enlarge

Akhila Ranganna: A comprehensive victory for South Africa in Nagpur and with me is Sanjay Manjrekar to look back on the action.

Sanjay, it would be fair to say that India were out played in this Test. What was very impressive what South Africa's preparation - though they had just one warm-up game, their plans were in place…

Sanjay Manjrekar: It is okay to talk about tactics and preparation and homework which happen a lot these days. Team meeting last for almost two and a half hours these days I have heard. Finally the execution is key. South Africa may have prepared well and their tactics may have worked but I thought their execution was the key and they had people who were capable of executing these plans starting with the firepower they needed in the fast-bowling department. Dale Steyn single-handedly took care of that so Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell were not put under too much pressure. Without Steyn South Africa's attack would have looked pretty ordinary too. Paul Harris as well discovered the over-the-wicket line and aimed the ball in the rough and he found a few Indian batsmen to be not really comfortable with that line and length. These were two key matters as far as their bowling was concerned

No plans when you look at their batting; that really won them this Test, batting first and getting in excess of 500. And it was the way they got those runs - Jacques Kallis looked so comfortable in getting his hundred on day one and that sent a strong message to India: although we are in your backyard, we are feeling at home. That is from where South Africa started dominating. They sent a very strong message through their batsmen on day one and two.

AR: This is India's third innings defeat at home in the last ten years and interestingly they have all come against South Africa. What is about South Africa that enables them to inflict such huge defeats on India?

SM: It is a difficult question to answer. You would expect Australia to be that kind of a team and Australia also competes well against India at home. But you are quite right and this is something that we have spoken about at the start of the series as well. When South Africa come to India they are a tough team to beat. Perhaps one reason could be that South Africa is not too dynamic a team. They will not take too many risks or try too many things. They are not like Australia who have various skills and are looking to attack all the time. Their clinical, sometimes safe and predictable approach works in certain conditions.

I thought the conditions in Nagpur suited their approach to cricket. That may have been the reasons for all the big wins they have has in India. When they inflicted a win over Kolkata in Eden Gardens, there was bounce in the wicket and the conditions suited seam bowling and they made that count against India. Their clinical approach especially with their bowling on certain Indian pitches works for South Africa better than most teams that have toured here. You really wonder why it is South Africa and not Australia who have that kind of a record in India in India.

AR: You said yesterday that it would be very easy to be critical of the Indian batsmen but at the end of the day they were facing the pressure of South Africa's first innings total of 500-plus runs and it was the Indian bowlers who let the team down. So what do you think is India's best option to take 20 wickets?

SM: They have to get Sreesanth fit, that is the first option. Along with Zaheer Khan, he is a wicket-taker that India have seen in the last few months. He got a five-wicket haul not too long ago. He is a guy who will give you breakthroughs when he is fit and on song. So India need to get Sreesanth fit and back in because the other seamers have been a bit of a let down. Ishant Sharma has not shown any promise of a recovery of form that he has lost for a while.

Amit Mishra has been disappointing. I thought he was a good legspinner, better than Piyush Chawla when he came in. But on pitches that do not have much turn, especially if India have to bowl in the first innings, he needs to do a little more than he does with his legspinners. So maybe Pragyan Ojha could come in. Hopefully India can bowl second or fourth in Kolkata and then Ojha can use the same tactics that Harris used at least to keep the pressure form end. When Hashim Amla and Kallis were going they were just enjoying a free ride and it was total dominance. India could not find another bowler apart from Zaheer to keep some pressure on the batsmen.

AR: Without Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, in a sense, we got a look at India's bench strength. What did you make of the likes of M Vijay and S Badrinath?

SM: It was a tough one for these two newcomers because they were playing in Test where the opposition was dominant. So they were basically playing with their senior players being dominated by the opposition. I again go back to the toss being important in this Test because Dravid and Laxman were not playing. India lost the toss, South Africa got over 500 and the Indian batting was under tremendous pressure. That is the kind of pressure that these new players had to bear. It was a Test for them and it would be harsh to pass any long-lasting judgement on their performance. Vijay has some Test experience and some good scores coming into this Test so he will be disappointed. Badri got a fifty and Wriddhiman Saha looked quite good towards the end of the innings but it was a tough opening for these guys into Tests, where their own team was doing all the catching up.

AR: The last time South Africa were here, they won in Ahmedabad and we then had a dust bowl in Kanpur and India drew the series. What can we expect in Kolkata?

SM: India is in a bit of quandary aren't they? In the past their solution to most of their problems would be to prepare turning pitches and unleash two of their top-class spinners in Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh on the opposition. That was a simple recovery plan. Harbhajan has been lacklustre of late so to prepare a turning track only for him means India will have to think twice. Are Mishra and Ojha good enough spinners to win a game for India on a turning track? We have seen how South Africa will smartly use their left-arm spinner: one strike seamer will create a bit of panic at one end and Harris, using the over-the-wicket line, bowling into the rough is a combination that is working well for South Africa. Pushed to the wall if India have to take a decision as far as cricketing conditions are concerned, maybe they could try and get a turning pitch for themselves. That gives them some hope. Another flat pitch may not be a good idea because their bowling does get badly exposed on a flat pitch.