'Our focus is winning the series' - Smith

Players like Ashwell Prince have brought youth and stability to a core of players sticking to a plan, believes Graeme Smith © Getty Images

Graeme Smith put his side's 20-match winning streak down to stability and communication, maintaining that each player was positive in his role and could deliver in critical conditions. He spoke to the press after South Africa's clinical five-wicket win over India at Hyderabad.

I think it was a par score at the beginning of the day. We always thought that wickets up front would be important. Obviously, once they were 35 for 5, chasing 250 was in the far distance, but Yuvraj played well. He had his chances, the nicks seemed to go past slips and stuff. But for the last four overs of their innings, I thought we had a very good day in the field.

I was surprised. When they lost wickets up front, we thought they were hiding him away from the new ball which was a good sign for us. We messed around with their gameplan, and bowled with good pace in good areas. The pitch helped a bit but we got as much out of it as we could.

I think a big factor in our success has been our stability and our communication. In our 20 unbeaten games, we've felt that our team works better with a bit of stability. We've had almost the same core of players around for a long time and they're starting to get very confident in their roles. I think you can become too unpredictable even to the point where your own team doesn't know what's going on.

I think it was definitely the first 15 to 20 overs. I think our fast bowlers did well, and so did Johan Botha on a pitch that didn't offer much turn for him. He was nervous, first time playing for his country, and I thought he handled himself very well today.

I'd much rather be 1-0 up than 1-0 down. As I said to the guys now, it's going to get harder. The day-night games, the toss will be a little bit more important but we've just got to carry on playing better cricket and carry on improving.

It was of benefit to us, especially since we got the Supersub out early. It was always going to make their bowling line-up thin. With Pathan going for a bit today, it put the fifth bowler under even more pressure.

Yeah, we'd like to have slept in a little longer (laughs). These are part of the touring conditions and you get used to them.

Chasing in India can be difficult because the pitches can be dry and turn. You look at the wicket, assess the situation but there's always going to be a slight risk. But the guys delivered today.

I think the side's quite calm about it, we're not getting overawed about it. We know that if we get it right in Bangalore, we will have 21 wins [actually, matches unbeaten]. Our focus at the moment is winning this series.

I think obviously Test cricket and one-day cricket are very different. I think the key was that the side was spending a little bit more time. Once we got the side stabilised, we got guys finding their feet and becoming more comfortable at the international level. We could define roles with players because they were around longer than two or three matches. Players given the opportunity also put their hands up and performed. Once we got over the hurdle, our ability has come to the fore.

We definitely wanted to start well. The way we ended our bowling, India gained a lot of momentum and it was important for us to shift that early. It just happened to be Irfan Pathan today.

Not at all. I know we didn't bowl well in the last four overs and we let them get back in the game. It's something we'll work at in practice and I'm confident that they'll come back and do really well. In the first 15 or 20 overs, we set our standards for the rest of the series. We just need to finish it off now. Losing Langeveldt, who's bowled well at the death for us, to a little niggle was tough for Makhaya who had to take up the responsibility. But I'm pretty confident overall in our bowling attack.