South Africa's Andrew Hall was named Man of the Match

The tourists struggled in Sri Lanka earlier this year, leading to a change of coach and a shake-up of the squad.

"We always thought they would be competitive. We knew they had some good players and youngsters who want to make a mark.

"We want to forget this match and go to Calcutta hoping to win the next Test," said the Indian captain.

South Africa's first innings 510-9 declared took them the best part of two and a half days and when India replied with 466 a positive result was out of the question.

"Our spinners did a fine job but I thought there was nothing in the pitch for them.

If we'd batted first, the result would have been different Sourav Ganguly

"I also think South Africa played very well, although they batted very slowly.

"We had our positives from the game, which included an entertaining century from [Virender] Sehwag," Ganguly added.

He defended the decision to play three spinners and only one specialist fast bowler, saying: "The strategy worked for us in Bombay [against Australia].

"Looking at the surface we thought three spinners would come into play as the match progressed."

Opposite number Graeme Smith said his team's performance had boosted their confidence.

"We will try and play hard in the next Test and try to put pressure on them.

"We know things will not be easy for us in the next Test as we expect a turner there but I feel we have begun well enough to try and make a fight of it."