Dark skies offer South Africa a glimmer

Rain is exactly what every South African wanted today. Back home, the country is facing its worst water crisis since 1992, five of the country's nine provinces have been declared drought disaster areas, and water restrictions have been imposed. In Bangalore, the rain has poured like the blessing South Africans believe it to be.

The entire second day was washed out, eating into the time India wanted to wipe away the first-innings deficit and begin building a lead. Even though the rain also munched away at the minutes South Africa could have used to start plucking Indian wickets - and in humid, overcast conditions their seamers would have hoped for some assistance - they would have preferred to lose time on this occasion.

South Africa's pace pack is depleted down to only one frontliner: Morne Morkel. The two who could have made use of any movement on offer - Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander - are injured and the replacement pair - Kyle Abbott and Kagiso Rabada - need some time to gear up for the magnitude of the task facing them.

Rabada needs more experience - in less than two years he has gone from impressive schoolboy to international cricketer across all formats - but Abbott, who is a swing bowler, could have used the extra day off. Abbott was barely 36 hours off a plane when he was thrust into a Test match with his captain's assuring words that "when he puts his boots on, he's ready even if he got off the plane 10 minutes before he bowled the first ball."

The Abbott of day one was not quite ready. In his six-over spell, he found movement, beat the bat and held his length back. But even with Morkel testing the surface's spongy bounce and Rabada poison-tipped with potential, Abbott could not create any pressure. India's opening pair were very rarely made to feel as though they would be lured into making a mistake, much less that there was any menace coming from their opponents.

South Africa's batsmen are partly to blame for creating that sense of security of their hosts, who put them in - a rarity in Indian conditions - and then bundled them out. In the two-and-a-half sessions India spent out there, they would have seen there were no demons in the pitch, not even the sluggish, sleeping ones like they were in Mohali They would have known they could seize an advantage by batting carefully to the close.

But in-game advantage is delicate and for India to hold on to it, they need to continue blunting South Africa's seamers, who generally do not remain passive for extended periods and will have the importance of sharpening up stressed on them. Morkel will have to lead with a little more authority and a little more meanness. He will have to bowl fast and back of a length to extract the bounce that a bowler of his height can generate and make the Indian batsmen uncomfortable. Abbott will have to conjure up his inner-Steyn, in swing terms, and make the conditions work for him. Both of them have to be careful not to bowl too straight, but to make the batsmen play outside the offstump.

Rabada will have to back both of them up by being the other half of Steyn: fast and furious. He will have to be the one who bends his back the most, bangs in the hardest and bears down on the batsmen the most. He already has the right bowling character to intimidate, now he has to trust it at the highest level and he has reason to. He has the backing of the best.

During the first Test, Steyn posted a photo of himself in wicket-celebration mode with his steely, scary eyes trained on Rabada. "I am looking at the future of SA cricket!," Steyn captioned it. "Remember this name, people. You gana (sic) be seeing a lot of it. Congrats on your Test debut bud. #fastbowlingpartner."

Steyn will not be on the field to guide Rabada or anyone else but his presence from the dressing room may serve as a reminder of what South Africa's attack need to protect. Before the Mohali Test, South Africa had lost only one Test away from home - to Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in October 2013 - in five years. The team owes a lot of that form to Steyn, who before Saturday had not missed a match in six years since he sat out the first Test against England in December 2009.

The stability Steyn provided in that time has meant South Africa have usually had the luxury of pushing for wins rather than settling for draws. They tended to prefer time in the game than time out, but without Steyn, that dynamic has shifted. Time out - and there could be more of it with rain also forecast on Monday and Tuesday - could allow them to save the blushes after their batting blunder. But it will also leave the series open wide enough for them to begin plotting an unlikely coup, even with their new attack.