CAPE TOWN (Newlands): South African captain Graeme Smith today said the win at the Newlands as one of the most meaningful wins of his career after his side had completed a 2-1 win in the series.
"Considering the conditions and that they were 260 for 3 on day one, we stuck to our game and our beliefs and our work in the field was incredible. It is one of the more meaningful win of my career," said Smith who was named man of the match for his knocks of 94 and 55 in the two innings.

Smith acknowledged that panic had started to creep in his side because of persistent rain.

"When such a rain comes you never know whether it's going to stop or not. There was a momentum going into the rain delay".

Smith said he promoted Shaun Pollock up the order because he was keen to take the initiative while the ball was still new. "I spoke to Polly about batting with me in the morning. He is experienced and it proved a right choice".

For Smith, the key moment in the game was the squeeze they applied on the Indians on the fourth afternoon. "The performance in India's second innings after lunch was key when we took four for 48 in the session. The fact that we chased 211 in the second innings was also a huge achievement".

Smith believed that with Paul Harris bowling in the rough, the scoring dropped on the fourth afternoon and pressure gradually was built on the Indian batsmen.