Record books don't lie, van Zyl reminds India

"Record books don't lie", said South Africa coach Corrie van Zyl while reminding India of their rather unimpressive past performances here as the battle of wits continued between the two sides ahead of the Test series starting on Thursday.

India are the world's number one Test side but van Zyl said they just need to look at the record books to know what an enormous task awaits them here.

Even India coach Gary Kirsten has declared that without a series win in South Africa, the visitors cannot regard themselves as the best Test side in the world.

"We don't pay much attention to what the Indian goals are in the series, but rather concentrate on what is ahead of us," Van Zyl was quoted as saying by 'Sport24.com'.

"They are an experienced team with much depth regarding their batting and bowling, but the record books never lie," he added.

Not to be outdone by van Zyl, Kirsten said the Indians have become a different side in the past couple of years.

"If you look at our performances and results over the past two years you can understand why we are the number one team," said Kirsten.

But as van Zyl pointed out, the record books indeed don't paint an impressive picture for India.

On four previous tours, the Indians could not win a series and have won only once in 12 Tests -- their only triumph coming in 2006 in Johannesburg.