South Africa's coach Ray Jennings has thrown the gauntlet up at the Indians, saying his players are ready to face every hurdle including "bad wickets" in their quest to win the two-match Test series in the country.
Jennings, who was appointed in place of Eric Simons only last month, took a dig at the under-prepared pitch at Mumbai during the recent Australian series and said his team is looking forward to take on the challenges the hosts could throw at them.
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"I just look at the game, I am going to bat on it, and you are going to bat on it. It is just about who handles the pressure better, and who creates the pressure more," the 50-year old former wicketkeeper-batsman said.
"I am quite excited to see how bad they can get the wickets. Get it as bad as you want, I am quite ready for it, ready for the heat. I am excited to see how much pressure India can create on our side.
"I can walk away and say I have done my job as a coach mentally, technically. And if things go wrong, we can say there was weakness in our technique, our mental state. So I am waiting to see what the Indian cricket board can set up for us."
Jennings said his side has made plans to tame star batsman Sachin Tendulkar but is sure that the ever-demanding home crowd would made his work easier.
"Tactics (against Tendulkar), yes, but I am not going to mention it. I can create pressure only when we get to bowl. But there is pressure sometimes even before you go into bat," he said.
"I don't need to create the pressure, the Indian public will take care of it. The fans want him to score a six off every ball, they will create the pressure.
"Basically as a cricketer he has been there, scored enough runs, and knows what to do. He is a tougher guy. Lot of world class batsmen are tougher guys, when they get into bad form they know how to pull themselves out of it."
Jennings said he would like to see his players dominate the proceedings for the better part of both the Test matches.
"From my side, I want the players to get their skills right. If they are losing one day and winning four days, I am happy. My skills are going to be right."
Jennings, who was regarded South Africa's best keeper but played all his cricket when the country was in isolation, has raised his eyebrows even among his own countrymen with his radical approach to coaching.
Soon after his appointment, he said the senior players "needed a kick up the backside" and that he would make sure the players, if they asked for cola, got warm fluids.
Jennings, however, said his methods are no more different from other coaches, only that he wanted the players to come out of their comfort zone and rediscover the passion for the game they had when young but lost it as they grew up.
"My methods are really 'don't take anything for granted'. My views are that the players must come up to play cricket and must not expect anything other than playing cricket. They must not start locking their brain into something and if they don't get what they expect, they are disappointed," Jennings said.
"Players are coming to India expecting hot weather. But it isn't hot, so I don't see what's the problem. They are coming here with a perception of Indian cricket and what they want. So I am trying to teach them anything is done. Never to expect anything in life and accept everything they get."
Jennings said he found in India the same passion for the game with which he played.
"I think my character was developed over the years along the line of people I played with. And we played for passion.
"When you look at the Indians, they don't ask for anything. They just want cricket, they love cricket and I am grown up the same way. I just wanted to play.
"If there wasn't coke or anything it did not really matter, I just wanted to play. I see this in Indian people. I am very privileged to come to the country and feel the type of passion I had all my life."
But there is a coldness also to the man who three years ago, as coach of Easterns provincial side, asked pacer Andre Nel to bump the legendary Allan Donald when the latter came into bat. Donald was hit on the head and suffered concussion.
"I told my fast bowler to hit Donald in the head, and I will tell my next fast bowler the same. If I see any weakness in the batsman and have a fast bowler to knock his head off, I will tell the fast bowler to knock his head off."
"It is all part of the game, to have a go at the opponent's strengths and weaknesses. That is how I play the game. I sometimes play the game very hard," Jennings said.
The coach said he is reliving his dream of visiting India after missing out on the 1991-92 tour, South Africa's first series after readmission into world cricket.
"I think I am living my dream at the moment. It doesn't really matter that I did not play, I am playing at the moment.
"Maybe the players are going to understand that I have got more passion than them at my age. The Indians are not going to play just my players, they might be playing (against) 12."
The South African squad includes five non-white players, selected under the quota system but Jennings said he looked only at their skills and not the colour of the skin.
"I don't look at them as so called black players. They have come up to a level now where they are good enough to play international cricket.
"So if you ask me how many black players are there in the side, I really don't know, I never really counted and I actually don't care. It has got past that.
"If you go below in South African cricket, you might be a little more aware. But the level we are talking about now, we have quality cricketers. And I see them as cricketers, I don't see them as black or white."
It is, however, the senior players and not the junior players who will keep "expanding their performances" in the coming series, Jennings said.
Jennings said Jacques Kallis is on his way to becoming the world's number one all-rounder and warned the Indians of the threat Kallis' bowling was about to pose to them.
"Kallis will come hard against India with his bowling. The Indian players must be careful that Kallis is ready to show up as a bowler.
"There is no doubt in my mind that when I look up at the bowling (strengths), Kallis is here, and the Indians are going to see ... a new Kallis.
"Maybe at the end of the tour, people will say 'what tablet did he take, where did he get the energy from'. He is 29 years of age and we want to make sure he get to number one all-rounder position in the world."
Jennings said it is important for his players to "embrace India" but bemoaned the fact that the team would be here for a short period of time.
"I would have liked to stay here to get to know more outside of cricket, as well as play in different areas. There are three games (two Tests and a three-day match), and some of the guys might not play even one."
He said it is important for South Africa to allow younger players to grow if they were to get back to the top of the ICC rankings.
"And once they grow, you will find one or two heroes coming out of this tour -- players who are very young and are not scared to fly. You are going to have new heroes and new cultures taking place in the side.
"The aim is to bring new energy into the side. The old energy can be at times sluggish and it drops of from one to the other. And then South African cricket will get back to the ranking they rightly deserve."
