Jaffer hopes nothing will go in vain at Cape Town

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson insisted his team's 2-1 Premier League victory over Bolton Wanderers at Anfield proved he had the backing of his players

Who said opportunity knocks on the door only once? In 2006-07, India had a golden chance to win the Test series in South Africa, but they messed it up in Cape Town. Rahul Dravid's men lost the Test by five wickets after getting the first innings lead.

Now, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team has got the opportunity to create history at Newlands. Wasim Jaffer, who scored a sublime 116, and along with Dinesh Karthik (63) put up a partnership of 153 runs for the first wicket in the first innings during India's last tour to SA, knows how a valuable hundred can go in vain.

The India opener does not want the Indian team to falter this time, as they did then. "Batsmen will have to stay longer at the wicket. That is what we did in our first innings, but we failed to capitalise on the first innings lead in our second outing. We didn't apply ourselves better in the second innings. We should have scored at least 100 runs more. If we had batted slightly better the second time, we could have won the series," said Jaffer.

India were bowled out for 169u00a0 in the second dig.

However, the Mumbai Ranji Trophy skipper is quite optimistic about India's chances of winning the final Test. "It is always difficult to win a Test in SA after losing the first Test. But the way we came back in the Durban Test was unbelievable. Winning there itself was a great achievement, as we have never won a Test in Durban. If we play with the same intensity as in Durban, we have a great chance of creating history. Hard work in first two Tests will also help us. Most of our batsmen look in great touch. This match seems to be the one where they are poised to score big.

"Virender Sehwag is unstoppable, if he explodes. Sachin Tendulkar has looked in great touch. Dravid may not have scored big so far in the series, but he has spent some quality time at the crease. Cheteshwar Pujara may have been a failure in the last Test, but according to me, he played well. We have a better chance than South Africa to win," Jaffer concluded.