Proteas coach Ottis Gibson says they will approach the Test series against Australia differently to the recent one against India.

South Africa went into the series with four seamers and a six-five split between the batsmen and bowlers.

Despite beating the Indians 2-1 in the Test series, the six-five split gave the assertion that South Africa entered matches with a batsman short, and it was seen in the low-scoring games at Newlands, Wanderers and Centurion.

READ MORE: SA series ‘tougher than Ashes’

But Gibson told journalists in Durban on Monday that they would be going into the series against the Australians with a different approach.

‘It’s different opposition so therefore the make up of the team is slightly different,’ Gibson said.

‘We have to get to Durban and see what we get [regarding the pitch].

‘The last time we tried to speak to the groundsman, everybody knows what happened at the Wanderers so we left the groundsman to prepare the best possible pitch and we will see what happens after that.’

The likes of skipper Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Vernon Philander and Morne Steyn will be back in the side, something that excites the coach.

‘The seniors in any team make it stronger, especially our guys. Our captain has been a massive loss.

‘We are hoping AB’s body is better than it was in the one dayers. We hope that he is somewhere near 100%,’ said the coach.

South Africa, the world’s second best Test team at the moment, take on the No 3-ranked Australians in the first Test in Durban, starting on Thursday.

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