India's star leg spinner Anil Kumble is not unduly bothered by the pitch and believes in just doing his job for the country to the best of his ability even when conditions do not favour him.

"You can't be too bothered about the tracks. You have to bowl on the surfaces given to you. We have to do our job whatever the surface," Kumble, who returned a six-wicket haul in the first cricket Test against South Africa, said after the third day's play on Monday.

The veteran spinner claimed his 28th five-wicket haul in Tests during South Africa's first innings on a wicket that lacks both pace and bounce.

"The wicket is too slow. It is not giving any help to the bowlers. It was real hard work out there."

Kumble has picked five-wicket hauls in three matches at the Green Park stadium but said he would have been much happier if he did not have to bowl 54 overs.

"I have taken five wickets a number of times here, but I would have been happier if I did not have to bowl 54 overs."

On whether he is now targetting Kapil Dev's record of highest wickets by an Indian, Kumble replied, "I will just play and see how it goes. It's probably a decent effort."

Kumble is five short of overtaking Kapil's tally of 434 wickets.

Singling out Gautam Gambhir for special praise, he said the youngster played brilliantly to give India a fine start.

"I think he batted very well. With the opposition scoring 500 runs, it's not easy for a youngster playing only in his second match. But it was a great innings from him. I hope he continues to play in this manner tomorrow.

"The wicket is still good for batting. We will hopefully keep batting tomorrow and see how it goes from there," he added.