Kolkata, Feb 13 (IANS) The Indian cricket board's cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) is actually helping teams like South Africa to adapt better to conditions here and become efficient players of spin, a traditional trump card for India, feels captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Both Dhoni and his South African counterpart Graeme Smith corroborated this during separate media conferences on the eve of the second Test between beginning Sunday at the Eden Gardens.

'They have batsman who can play spin well. The IPL is also helping them,' Dhoni said.

Smith conceded that his team had watched video footages of Indian players at the IPL in the run-up to their arrival here.

'We have been exposed to a lot of Indian cricket through the IPL. We were able to plan against them well, having seen the footage of the players from IPL matches,' Smith said.