India are on cusp of a first ever series win on South African soil across formats as they lead 3-0 in the six-match ODI series.
Skipper Virat Kohli (318 runs with two hundreds) along with wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (11 wickets) and Kuldeep Yadav (10) have contributed significantly to India's emphatic wins so far.
"India team is very deservingly 3-0 up in the series. While South Africa have lost three key players (AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock) to injuries but it also showed that next generation of South African cricketers is not quite ready to take it on," Smith told PTI on the sidelines of St. Moritz Ice Cricket tournament .
Smith, who played 117 Tests for South Africa, made no bones about the fact that the current series, which looks like going India's way, will have a big impact on the transition phase the Proteas are going through.
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"At the moment, it looks like a big series loss for the team and it could be disappointing. Post 2019 (World Cup), I think we would lose a couple of players (like AB de Villiers) and this series in particular showed that next level of players have a lot of work to do in order to get up to the standards where they can at least be competitive.
The most disturbing aspect for Smith has been not able to dominate Chahal-Kuldeep even once during the middle overs.
"They havent simply batted well enough. There wasnt may be enough experience in the middle-order but still there was JP Duminy and David Miller who have played a lot of international cricket and quality spin bowling in the IPL.
Smith was all praise for the young spin duo as he felt that these two have made spin bowling interesting again now that Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan are no longer playing the game.
"With no Murali or Warne now, it is great for the game that Chahal and Kuldeep have come in. There was no mystery spinner in the game as such and their current performances have lifted spirits and made it exciting."
"I would look at Indias team selection. Rahane should have played from start. India needed to play with an extra batter and the extra bowler they played was not required. Centurion was a very flat deck and India would be disappointed that they lost that Test series," Smith summed up.
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