Kirsten's first Test as India coach against his own

R Eswar

Chennai, Mar 25 (PTI) Nearly four years after retiring, Gary Kirsten finds himself face to face with the team he was once part of as he gears up for his first major assignment as India's cricket coach in the three-Test series against South Africa starting here tomorrow.

The former opener and India's newly appointed mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton were once a part of the South African dressing room and the visiting side has been bombarded with queries on what it thinks of the duo's association with the rival team ever since its arrival in India.

Graeme Smith's men, some of who played with Kirsten, have cleverly ducked the matter by saying that they don't really care what secrets about them may have been passed on to the Indians but clearly having Kirsten and Upton does give a psychological edge to Anil Kumble's men.

The hot and humid Chennai weather is another nemesis that the Proteas will have to deal with but they claim that having played in the sub-continent for the past few months has prepared them well for it.

For the Indians, it would be about getting back into the Test mode after the euphoria of the one-day tri-series triumph in Australia, which is yet to die down.

The series, being seen as a filler before the much-hyped Indian Premier League (IPL), has not generated the kind of excitement or anticipation that generally goes with cricket in India but promises to be engrossing nonetheless.

And one factor that will make it a keen contest is how the two teams conduct themselves on the field after the ICC issued guidelines urging captains to control sledging.

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