Smith surprised and excited at winning Pak series

“The team has stood solid, stood strong and everyone knew what their role was and performed it well,” Smith added after the second and final test ended in a draw.

Smith said South Africa had not often won a Test series on the subcontinent.

“It was disappointing not to win today but once Younis (Khan) got in and Kamran batted well and Yousuf looked solid we knew it was a case of us cutting our losses and securing our series win,” he said.

“If anything the wicket got slower and it made getting wickets difficult.”

Smith felt his team had surprised quite a few people with the way they had played.

“People like to think we are weak against spinners but we have played them consistently well even in our home series this year on turning wickets and on this tour. The maturity shown by the players is very encouraging,” he said.

“I now see the ODI series as a good opportunity for some players to stamp their mark those who have been on the fringes and have not got chances.”

Smith praised his left-arm spinner Paul Harris saying he had been a huge plus for the team. “Not only has he picked up wickets but he has allowed us to control the game and do some experiments in our bowling.”

Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik said it was disappointing to lose a home series but the hard effort put in by his players to secure a draw in the second Test had been very encouraging.

Pakistan, set 457 runs to win, finished on 316 for four.

Malik said at one time, when Younis and Yousuf were batting together, there were plans to make an attempt after tea to win the match.

“But when we lost two back-to-back wickets we decided to play for a draw,” he said. “We made mistakes and we will learn from them. But we were playing tests after seven months’ layoff so it was difficult to adjust. But the South Africans were better than us in all departments.”