Cape Town - Proteas coach Ottis Gibson remembers England's tour to India towards the end of 2016 all too well. 

England's bowling coach at the time, Gibson watched on as the tourists were smashed 4-0 over five Tests.

It was a series to forget for the visitors, while India further enhanced their reputation as being near-invincible on home soil. 

Indian captain Virat Kohli was immense in that series, scoring a whopping 655 runs in eight innings at an average of 109.16 that included two centuries and two half-centuries. 

"They were too good for us," Gibson recalls.

"They played really well and were led very well by the captain, who got a lot of runs. There were times in those conditions where we couldn’t get him out."

But, the good news from a South African perspective is that Gibson is not expecting a repeat performance from Kohli in the upcoming series between the Proteas and India, which gets underway at Newlands on Friday.

"I think in these conditions it will be a lot different," he said.

"We’ll have some plans for him as we will for every other player in the team."

Gibson was then asked if this Proteas bowling attack, which includes Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel was the best he had worked with in his career so far.

The 48-year-old, though, was reluctant to make that statement.

"A full-strength England attack in England is a very good bowling attack," he said.

"This attack has Steyn, Morkel, Rabada, Philander, Chris Morris and Keshav Maharaj, who is a world class spinner, perhaps the best that the country has had for a long time.

"It’s a world class bowling attack and we just have to try and come up with the right combination to go and win this Test match."