South Africa meanwhile has just steamrolled Bangladesh in both Tests and ODIs, and though the opposition was not of the highest quality, they have had plenty of time to acclimatize themselves to conditions in the subcontinent.  Additionally, the Indians will not have much recent practice playing on slow low wickets, which is a strange thing to say.  But the international calendar means Indian players must often feel like visitors rather than the home team when they finally get to play at home.

One factor that will be big will be the weather.  By this time of the year, temperatures will have started to rise dramatically and at the three venues chosen, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kanpur the heat will likely be searing, with humidity an issue in Chennai and dry hot winds, aka the “Loo”, a factor in Ahmedabad.  Will such conditions be conducive to bright, exciting cricket?  Generally the premiere series in the past have been played from November to February.

However, now the overloaded international calendar, means that India despite being the financial powerhouse of World Cricket, cannot get the ICC to arrange its international cricket in such a way that India plays at home during the heart of its normal domestic season.  This privilege traditionally has only been allotted to England and Australia.  But as Rahul Dravid pointed out when he was in charge, India would do well to insist that the ICC do so especially now that the BCCI’s own men are in charge at the ICC, and especially if the BCCI wants its domestic cricket competitions and season to serve as the nursery for breeding the next generation of cricketers.  If the best Indian cricketers are gallivanting around the globe playing in other countries during the heart of the Indian season, they have much less chance to play alongside domestic players.  This makes it that much more difficult for the young domestic players to develop their game, as they can’t really benchmark themselves against the best.

Also, for the sake of Test cricket and its fans one hopes that this series turns out to be a close one, without the acrimony and controversy of the Australia versus India series, and sees some brilliant cricket being played.  The composition of the sides, with a mix of experienced batsmen and varied bowling attacks makes this a distinct possibility.

India, even without Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, will have a pace bowling attack of some quality, while its spin department, whether Harbhajan Singh is fit to play or not, will be miles ahead of South Africa.  South Africa for a change will not only have fire power in the pace bowling department, but will also boast a couple of genuine spinners, in Paul Harris and Robin Peterson.  And it is wise to remember what Shaun Udal, and his ilk have been able to do against the Indian batting line-up in India.  So one sincerely hopes that the ensuing series produces some exciting cricket, and that the Test cricket on view sets the pulse racing and heart pounding in the way only a good Test match can, and which limited overs cricket be it the 50 over or 20 over variety cannot match.

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