Underprepared India gear up for first Test

After a week during which the Indian tour found itself bogged down in the slush at Chatsworth slightly better service should be resumed in Bloemfontein on Saturday with the start of the first Castle Lager/MTN Test match against South Africa.

You'd probably have to go a fair way to find anyone who doesn't believe South Africa to be firm favourities as the really serious business of the tour gets under way. The emphatic nature of South Africa's triumph in the Standard Bank Series final last Friday, the re-emergence of Nantie Hayward as a bowler of genuine pace, the form of the South African top order all point to the home team prevailing.

India, by contrast, have had their preparations disrupted, they have yet to settle on an opening pair and they seem very likely to attempt to play the series with only four bowlers, two of whom will be the spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

This last would represent a massive gamble, not from the point of view that Kumble and Harbhajan might not be up to it, but it would leave them terribly thin if things start to go wrong. It has been a persistent criticism of India for some time now that they tend to droop in the field after tea. If they're planning to go in with only two seamers, presumably two of the experience Javagal Srinath, the skiddy Ajit Agarkar or the left-armer Ashish Nehra, whoever plays are going to be out their feet at the end of the day's play.

And who will open their batting. It is understood that neither Rahul Dravid, who has the technique, nor VVS Laxman, who hasn't but compensates with a wonderful eye, wants the job. The middle order, then, will consist of Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Laxman, but they will be particularly vulnerable at the front where the names of Connor Williams, Virender Sehwag and Sameer Dighe as possible partners for SS Das have been tossed around.

Will the Indians use Williams with Das, which seems to be the intention of the selectors? That remains to be seen, but it would yet another gamble to throw Williams in at the deep end against a fired-up Hayward having hardly put bat to ball on South African soil.

The root of India's problems, however, lies in the lack of a genuine all-rounder, a point underscored by the wealth of all-round talent in the South African team. Without an all-rounder, India lack balance and over three Tests this could be cruelly exposed by the home team.

And yet, the tourists possess such pure talents that you would never wisely dismiss them out of hand. Tendulkar remains the finest batsmen of the modern generation and if Ganguly isn't quite in the same class (after all, who is?) then the Indian captain seemed to have adjusted perfectly well to South African conditions.

The South Africans have seen enough of Kumble over the years to be aware of what he is capable of, but Harbhajan is new and a bit different and rated by a number of very good judges as a match-winner. How the South Africans cope with him should form one of the central duels of the series.

Still, when all is said and done, South Africa remain a very fine cricket team despite the efforts of the selection convener to undermine it. It is no surprise, for instance, that Nicky Boje should have been recalled to play at his home ground. But as the team was once again handed over to a third party to announce, we still don't know where Claude Henderson stands in the grand scheme of things.

Hayward's current form should do much to compensate for the absence of Allan Donald and Mfuneko Ngam and his presence will ease the pressure both on Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis to provide the incisive moments.

There may well be still a place in the South African middle order open for contention with Boeta Dippenaar likely to bat at five in this Test. Daryll Cullinan will play this weekend for the Highveld Strikers against Easterns, but he needs to make runs quickly if he is to be considered to play against India. And the longer this takes, the less likely will be his chances of touring Australia for a third time.

And what we don't know is what kind of pitch will be provided at Goodyear Park. Against New Zealand last year it was low and slow and despite yielding a 300th Test wicket to Donald, it made for a slow moving and often tedious game. South African cricket needs fast, bouncy pitches, not just because they would suit the home team, but also because they provide for better and far more entertaining cricket.

And if India can help provide that, we could still have a series worth remembering.