India need to be more disciplined at Newlands: Dhoni

Cape Town:

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels that they need to be more disciplined in all three departments to win the series-decider against South Africa starting here at the Newlands, on Sunday.

The series is currently tied 1-1 after India won the second Test in Durban by 87 runs, following the humiliating innings and 25 runs defeat in the first match in Centurion.

"Our bowling, our batting and our fielding have to be at their best if we hope to win the next Test. We don't have much experience on these types of wickets, so it's a big challenge for the side. We know it doesn't always go our way and we last won a Test in South Africa in 2006 so everyone wants to perform really well," Dhoni said.

The captain said the win in the second Test match boosted the team's confidence after their innings and 25-run humiliating defeat at Centurion.

"Whenever we lose a Test match, it has a big impact on the side psychologically. It was a bit of a worry for us to get 20 wickets but our bowlers did really well in Durban. Most of our bowlers are swing bowlers and not naturally talented to bowl fast on flat wickets so it makes it difficult for us to bounce the batsmen out," he said.

The Newlands pitch is supposed to be more batsman friendly than the pitches for the first two Tests and a high scoring contest is very much on the cards.

South Africa have won 14 out of 21 Tests at Newlands since readmission and lost just three, all against Australia. South Africa have beaten India twice in Cape Town, most recently in 2007. On that occasion, the match was also a series decider and South Africa's victory allowed them to clinch the series 2-1.

"The one thing I'm really consistent at is losing the toss. Sometimes it can be really tough. It's always good to win the toss so you give your bowlers a chance if there's something in the wicket," Dhoni was quoted as saying by South African website Sports24.

This Test match will be significant as Proteas will be playing under coach Corrie van Zyl for the last time.

"He's a good man to have around and he believes in hard work. He'll be very difficult to replace," said the skipper.