Battered by poor performances recently, a lacklustre India go into the five-match one-day international series against South Africa in Johannesburg on Sunday with their batting and bowling still in disarray.
With their batsmen struggling and bowlers still trying to find their feet, the task is going to be a tough one for the visitors, especially considering their dismal record of having won only three out of the 16 one-dayers they have played in this country.
The shocking loss in the tour-opening warm-up match against a second string South African would have hardly done any good to their sagging morale while a question mark hangs over the availability of key player Virender Sehwag.
Captain Rahul Dravid alone -- and not even Sachin Tendulkar -- has a record to match his stature on bouncy South African pitches and his 431 from nine innings with six half centuries at 53.88 is a testimony to this. In comparison, Tendulkar has 429 runs from 16 matches at 26.81.
The result at the Wanderers would set the tone for the series and if the record of no win and two losses at this venue is any indication, India are due for a harrowing time.
Sehwag's finger injury leaves the Indians precariously placed ahead of the first game and force the team management to utilise every single batting talent of the squad.
In case of Sehwag's unavailability, Wasim Jaffer is a ready-made solution and if the team wants to go for experiments then playing wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Kaarthick in place of Suresh Raina will be a safe option.
Much hope is being pinned on Mahendra Singh Dhoni striking early form and transforming himself in a similar manner as Sehwag did on the 2002 tour to England.
More confusion lies in the bowling ranks. Harbhajan Singh has done little wrong in recent times to warm the bench but such is the stature of Anil Kumble that he commands a place in the eleven as long as he is part of the squad.
Playing two spinners though is not the advice which Wanderers curator Chris Scott has for the visitors.
"It is the same pitch which was used when Australia and South Africa played that freakish match and scored over 400 runs each," Scott said.
"Even though this might not scale those heights, I would be happy if this pitch can provide a score in excess of 300 runs."
South Africa, on the other hand, have everything going for them. They appeared a team on the mend in the ICC Champions Trophy in India recently and would like to keep the graph going up.
Jacques Kallis' return to the bowling crease and Shaun Pollock's revival only promise better things.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Mark Boucher has taken an enormous leap in his attitude and performance, so much so that he has managed to bag the Grade A contract.
And then there is Makhaya Ntini. The fast bowler is impossible to get away with in home conditions, not even by the Australians as Justin Langer would recall the concussion he suffered here in his 100th Test match earlier this year.
Ntini took 6 for 22 against the world champions in one of those games and his career record of 217 scalps from 135 matches at 22.87 tells its own tale.
That he takes a wicket every fifth over, must already be striking terror in Indians' hearts.
Teams:
India: Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mohammed Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Suresh Raina, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Dinesh Kaarthick, Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan and S Sreesanth.
South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Jacques Kallis, Loots Bosman, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp, Charles Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Robert Peterson, Shaun Pollock.
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