Jacques Kallis backed his years of experience to guide South Africa through a tough run chase on the third day at Cape Town. He and Ashwell Prince added 117 to carry their side to a five-wicket win, which secured the series 2-1.
"Sometimes you get more pleasure out of knocks like this than getting a hundred," he said, "because it played a big role in winning the game for South Africa which to me is more important than getting a hundred.
"They put us under a lot of pressure and we just had to absorb it. But there is no way you can carry on doing it all day and there had to come a period where they would crack and perhaps start trying a few things. It happened after lunch and once we got the momentum things became a lot easier."
There was some vociferous appealing, particularly early in the day, and at one stage umpires Peter Parker and Steve Bucknor spoke to Pakistan's acting captain Younis Khan, warning the players to "keep down the banter".
"It was nothing out of the ordinary," said Kallis. "It was a hard series. It was hard cricket and there were tense moments but that's what Test cricket is about. It's what our guys like and it brings the best out of quite a few of our players."
Graeme Smith was grateful to Kallis after he was one of Mohammad Asif's two early wickets, which left South Africa 39 for 4 chasing 161. "On a wicket like this it is where your big pressure players come to the party and make the impact that's needed."
He was also quick to credit Pakistan for their part a highly competitive series: "They [Pakistan] performed very well. On all their trips to South Africa these wickets probably were the closest to what they've got back home. They made life difficult for us."