'We need to play aggressively' - Smith

Graeme Smith has warned the Indians that South Africa will employ the same tactics which gave Australia so much success on their tour to India. Speaking to Press Trust of India immediately after the team's arrival in the country, Smith said: "Australians are the best in the world and they played very aggressively and implemented the plans to perfection during their 2-1 series win recently," said Smith. "We have to learn from them and play aggressively as playing in Indian conditions is pretty tough."

Commenting on the challenges of playing in India with an inexperienced outfit, Smith said: "We have very young and inexperienced side but we have done our home work well and I am sure we will play some entertaining cricket during this rushed-up tour of three week. Playing the Indians in India is difficult and it is totally different from playing in South Africa or Australia. We have to get used to the climatic conditions quickly and I think the tour of Sri Lanka prior to this series has helped us to get used to the heat and the unpredictable nature of the subcontinent wickets." South Africa had a wretched time on that tour, losing the two-Test series 1-0 and then being drubbed in all five one-day internationals.

The South Africans are without Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje , but Smith chose not to dwell on the players missing from the squad, and instead spoke highly of the replacements. "We do have some very young and talented players who can do well on this tour. We have some very talented youngsters like wicketkeeper Thami Tsolikile, batsman Hashim Amla, Alfonso Thomas, Martin Van Jaarsveld, Robert Robin Peterson, Zender de Bruyn and others who can take this opportunity to establish themselves."

South Africa start the tour with a three-day game against Board President's XI at Jaipur from November 14. The first Test will start at Kanpur on November 20, while the second one will be played at Kolkata from November 28.