SA series - sound-bites have started already

The majority of the Indian team has boarded the flight today but sound-bites have started already.

Gary Kirsten has planned for a good work-out for the team once they land in South Africa - he reckons that each batsman needs to play 3000 balls in nets before they start the first test. He thinks that the conditions need to be put out of the equation during the test match - the team that can handle the pressure is the one that will take the lead.

To win a Test you need to capture 20 wickets and I don't believe the conditions will determine whether we can take 20 wickets or not. Pressure will be the determining factor. We need to execute properly otherwise we'll be the ones under pressure. We'll be up for it from ball one.

Gary Kirsten thinks that winning the critical sessions in the series will help a team win it. He is hoping that the players get into form quickly - how the preparation at the nets will help the Indians remains to be seen.

Both sides have strong batting line-ups. If they both bat well, it will come down to one or two sessions to decide the series. The key for us is to get some players into good form early on in the series

The spearhead of SA bowling team - Dale Steyn - looks for sporting pitches to be prepared in the test matches

It will be really sad if we have similar wickets to the ones we had when we played Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates

But he also agrees that it will be difficult to get a pitch that will support them out and out

Every bowler wants a green top but we don't get them that often. Pitches around the world favour batters these days, I don't know if it's because they get used so much and they are worn out. The truth is that you rarely find a wicket that offers bowlers enough to get 20 wickets quickly. We have to work for our wickets

He has followed the tradition of the previous Oz bowlers of targeting batsmen before the start of a series

A guy like Sachin, with the reputation that he is has, is always going to be an important wicket. But for me, their opening pair is terrifying, with Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag

The curator at the ground, denied that the pitch will have a tinge of green

Look, everybody wants the ball to fly past the Indian batsman's ears because they are apparently vulnerable against short deliveries. If we win the toss on that pitch and bowl them out cheaply, then I'm the hero, but think what could happen if the roles are reversed and they bowl us out cheaply. Then they demand your head and everyone wants to know what went wrong

His inputs looks like there will be initial help for bowlers on the first day of the test - MS Dhoni anyway has had bad luck with the toss in recent times. Maybe this is the time he needs to get it right.

I want to prepare a pitch where it won't just be an automatic choice to bat if you win the toss.

The weather will also make an impact on the pitch while it is quite strange to know that another match will be played just six days before the Test begins.

Related articles

• SA series - right moves made by the Indian team (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• India to practice on bouncy pitches (espncricinfo.com)