Proteas aim for historic Test series win in India after Eden Gardens victory

THE Proteas are not content with their gevaarlike win at Eden Gardens, but are looking forward to becoming just the second South African team to win a Test series in India.

The late Hansie Cronje’s Class of 2000 remains the only Proteas team to have triumphed in India when they beat their hosts’ 2-0 after victories in Mumbai and Bangalore.

Graeme Smith’s span had a chance in 2010 when they beat India by an innings and six runs in Nagpur, but slipped to defeat the following week in Kolkata.

Proteas coach Shukri Conrad doesn’t want his team to repeat those mistakes after the jitz 30-run victory in the series opener at Eden Gardens as they head off to Guwahati for the final Test on Saturday.

Conrad wysed: “I’m sure the boys will celebrate hard, they’ve got two extra days to recover. But the job’s far from done.  You don’t come to a country to win a Test match, you obviously want to win the series.

“I think it’s important we stay nice and humble, and not get too carried away with this.

“The good thing is that you want to create an environment and a belief in the side that they shouldn’t be surprised when they do certain things.  They shouldn’t be surprised when you come to India and beat them.

“It’s a massive achievement, but this is what we’re able to do.

“Guwahati will present its own challenges and I’m pretty certain and quietly confident that we’ll be up to the task there as well. It certainly sets it up beautifully.”

Conrad stressed that the World Test Championship final victory over Australia at Lord’s earlier this year has given his young team the confidence they are capable of winning anywhere and against anyone.

He added: “I think it gives you belief that you can do great things on special occasions at special places.

“And WTC having toppled Australia, a fairly young side that so much was said about and a team that was written off before the match even started, was able to do that. It does give you belief. It gives you a belief that you can mix it with the best. And again, we’ve shown that we can mix it with the best. This victory will give us a lot of belief.”