Cape Town, Jan 6: Graeme Smith, the South African captain, thought the 3-match series against India was extremely competitive. Smith said that the knock played by Kallis in the second innings of the Cape Town Test was an inspiration for the rest of the team and that his team felt humbled in playing in front of the home crowd.

Excerpts from an interview:

On whether it was one of the best series he has played against India:

I think it was terrific play, very competitive, the fans certainly enjoyed. Every Test match, every day, was really competitive, every session you know. We have played three series, two in India and one here and they have all been 1-1. So, I think the teams are very even and that shows in how competitive the cricket is.

On the South African team’s performance yesterday [Day 4] when they were in a trouble:

Yeah, we were in a lot of trouble yesterday at lunch and I think you know we fought hard. Jacques obviously you know had an incredible Test match. I think him and Sachin [Tendulkar] are terrific players and they both showed their worth in this game on a very difficult wicket through the first three days and Jacques [Kallis] play was quite an inspiration for us yesterday. Just watching him in the changing room and how much pain he was in,helped to hold our thoughts together yesterday and today

Positives for South Africa from the series:

Yeah, look I mean there are positives through each Test match I think. I don’t particularly want to pick anyone out but I think Dale [Steyn] the way he bowled and Lonwabo [Tsotsobe] showed lots of good signs coming through as a third seamer. You know he’s pretty inexperienced in that role . I think there were lot of other good guys who had some good Test series but all in all as a team we managed to compete really well with the best team in the world and we just didn’t have enough steam to close it off today unfortunately. I think but if we had just bowled in blocks we had them in place and I think we fought.

On whether the two best teams should play more matches against each other

Yeah I think so you know. I think we certainly would like to play against India more. It was a great test series. They got some quality players and so do we. Every day is unpredictable and competitive and that’s what fans and TV and everybody wants to see is exciting cricket and I think it was provided in this Test series. A big shout out to all our fans especially for this Test match we’ve had incredible support from everybody and it really does make a difference. We have really worked so hard and here we are as a team and it really makes a difference to see the people come out. Thank you!