Kirsten's 1st major for India against his own

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 in Chennai on Wednesday.

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.

The two captains are on record saying the game will take precedence over everything and their focus would be firmly on the on-field battle.

However, South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher has stated that it would be hard to keep sledging out because of the competitiveness.

The South African insistence on being a tough team notwithstanding, India's record on home turf clearly makes the hosts favourites provided the weather holds good for a prompt start.

With the unseasonal depression in the Bay of Bengal persisting, the sun has been playing hide and seek. Light showers lashed the city on Monday, forcing the ground staff to give up their preparations and cover the pitch.

But the two teams are hardly worried about the weather and are busy fighting some unwanted controversies ahead of the series opener.

While the visitors are dealing with a controversial quota system in team selection that has left both Smith and South African coach Mickey Arthur disturbed, the Indians are busy warding off queries on the senior-junior debate ignited by ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's much-publicised push for youngsters.

But despite these distractions, the two teams have kept their focus on the task at hand and instead of trying to have a go at each other the rival captains have chosen to state politically correct admirations for each other's team.

While Smith feels the Indians have a great mix of youth and experience, Kumble stresses the Proteas would be quite a handful despite India's formidable home record.

The quota controversy has, however, taken a toll on the South Africans.

The Proteas will be without the services of pace bowlers Andre Nel and Charl Langeveldt due to the raging controversy but Smith has tried to divert attention from the issue by pinning hopes on the available players.

On the other hand, the Indians - particularly seniors like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman - would be hoping to prove a point after the recent age-debate.

The M A Chidambaram stadium has been a good hunting ground for Tendulkar and the maestro would be hoping to continue his fine form from the Australia tour.

The last the two sides met in India was in 2004-05 and the hosts came out trumps 1-0 after the first Test in Kanpur ended in a draw.

Going by the predictions of pitch curator M Parthasarathy, the match will be result oriented and the turf would start turning from second day onwards.

This will be to the advantage of India, which has world class spinners in Kumble and Harbhajan Singh as compared to the visitors.

South African pace attack might not possess the same intensity in the absence of Langeveldt and Nel and this will certainly help the hosts.

Having withstood the ferocious Australian pace assault during the tour Down Under, the Indian line up is a tested one and is not expected to have much of a problem against the Proteas.

However, the South African attack is quite capable of surprising the host batsmen with Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn leading the attack.

Teams from:

South Africa: Graeme Smith (Capt), Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher (WK), A B de Villiers, Jean Duminy, Paul Harris, Jacques Kallis, Niel Mckenzie, Monde Zondeki, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Nitini, robin Peterson, Ashwell Prince and Dale Steyn.

India: Anil Kumble (Capt), M S Dhoni (WK), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, V V S Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Piyush Chawla, Wasim Jaffer, R P Singh, S Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan.

Umpires: Tony Hill and Asad Rauf.

Standbyes: Amish Saheba and S K Tarapore.

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama.

Hours of play: 9.30 am to 11.30 am, 12.10 pm to 2.10 pm, 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm.

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