South Africa captain Graeme Smith Saturday said he was confident about playing the decisive second and final Test against India despite breaking a finger. Smith, 29, fractured the little finger on his left hand during the team's fielding session on Friday at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, where the second Test starts on Sunday.
"Injuries are a part and parcel of every sportsman's career. It's all about dealing with the pain. We have a very good medical staff here," Smith told reporters at a pre-match press conference. "The big question is whether I can give my best to the team. I need to answer that going into this important game and hopefully I will take the right decision.
"I am pretty confident I can deal with the pain and play the match." South Africa, who won the first Test in Nagpur by an innings and six runs on Tuesday to go 1-0 up in the series, need a draw to dislodge India from the number one position in the official Test rankings.
Smith, however, said the bigger motivation for him and his team was to win the series after coming close in 2008 when they won the second Test after drawing the first. But India dished out a rank turner for the decider in Kanpur to square the series. South Africa last won a Test series in India in 2000. "Not many teams get an opportunity to win a series in India. We've got that opportunity now. It's a life-time opportunity for us.
"This is the one thing that we really want to tick off as a team, to win a series here in India. We want to achieve that and we are really excited about it. "We are fortunate that our guys have played on the emerging tours and in the IPL (Indian Premier League) and are exposed a lot more to the Indian conditions. This team is mature and very professional.
Smith said the team's plan would be to attack India's bowlers and push them on the backfoot as they did in Nagpur where they piled up 558-6 before bowling the hosts out for 233 and 319. Rival skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni backed fit-again Venkatsai Laxman to fire with the bat and make up for the absence of the injured Rahul Dravid (jaw) and Yuvraj Singh (wrist). Dhoni hoped the younger batsmen in the side will grab the chance to prove themselves against a quality opposition.
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