Darts: India poised to clinch first series win in South Africa

Attention to detail will be the key to the outcome of the third and deciding Test between South Africa and India starting at Newlands today, according to the opposing captains.

India, the world's top-ranked side, are keen to win their first series in South Africa, although they will retain their place at the top of the rankings regardless of the outcome.

The visitors squared the series in Durban on Wednesday against the world number two side after losing the first test by an innings.

"It is a very balanced series. Both the teams have done well, South Africa played really well in the first Test and we came back strongly in the second Test," India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni told a news conference.

"It is up to the last Test now and what we now focus on is small little things that we think are important, right from preparing for the game to good plans and how we execute those plans on the field.

"These are the small things that if we take care of them, at the end of the day you will get the desired results more often than not."

South Africa captain Graeme Smith sang from the same song sheet.

"I felt we were little bit off our mark in Durban, we were not as precise as we needed to be. When you play on a pitch like that, the margins are small.

"We probably lacked a bit of tough discipline at times and making the little things count. In the end we let ourselves down," he said.

"In the key moments we were not good enough and India were better than us."

It is the second successive series in South Africa in which India have entered the final Test in Cape Town at 1-1. They were unable to go the distance in 2006-7, losing by five wickets.

"The fact is this is one of the best chances for us to win our first series in South Africa. If you see the last series in 2006, we were in the same position. It is a fair chance, but the team that plays consistently over the next five days will be lifting the trophy," Dhoni added.

Smith said his batsmen needed to take a step up after being bowled out for 131 and 215 in Durban.

"We were poor in Durban as a batting unit. We have had some good honest chats about that and I think our batting unit has been pretty successful, but in Durban we lost our minds a little bit," he said.

"Hopefully we can gather our strength, the top six especially, for this Test."