Attack is India's best defence

More than any other country, more even than the then-mighty Australia, it is South Africa that has been India's nemesis. There have been many reasons - bounce but one of them - that have laid India low and it is those that they must seek to conquer to send a message to the rest of the world that the No. 1 tag can be worn on all grounds and across all conditions.

It was pace and bounce that a defensive South Africa used when the world knew little about them in 1992 and so it was in 1996 when they presented India with a trampoline in Durban that matched any of the wicked subcontinent turners for spitefulness! Both in 2001, a series quite easy to forget, and in 2006, India played cautious cricket and in doing so played into the hands of an opposition that had an air of vulnerability to it. And each time India's back-up bowling undid the often excellent work done by the new ball.

Now India send a team of extraordinary batting pedigree but one that is pretty long in the tooth. This will be Tendulkar's fifth tour of South Africa and it's the fourth for Dravid and Laxman and none can claim to have mastered the land. As they come to the end of their product life cycle, they will hope for one final flourish and for that to happen they need to take on the bowling. And there is a pretty strong indicator of the effectiveness of that course of action across the oceans in the southern hemisphere.

It is 24 years since an English team won the Ashes in Australia and there have been many accomplished players who have been there. But rarely has an English side grabbed the initiative as often as this one has. Bad balls have been routinely struck for four, the scoreboard has been busy, and while this isn't quite the best Australian bowling line-up, they have not allowed it any freedom. By taking on the bowling England have done something hitherto considered very un-English. They have recognised the fear in the enemy camp and played on it; with every dominant stroke they have reinforced the thought, in the rest of the world but more specifically in the Australian dressing room, that this attack isn't good enough.

That is why I would be very interested in seeing whether India take on the South African bowling; not go hell for leather because they won't be allowed to (and suicide missions don't win wars!), but pick every opportunity to punch holes into the opposition. Currently Sehwag plays that role, and his battles with Steyn and Morkel could be thrilling, but India will have to go beyond him. In 2006-07 a couple of ultra-cautious batting displays allowed South Africa to reclaim a series that had started so spectacularly for India. If India play for survival, South Africa will win.

India's known distaste for bounce means there will be enough of it around and India will have to give with pace as much as they take. In their ranks they have a senior citizen at the peak of his powers but Zaheer Khan will need as much support as he can. Fourteen years ago Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad bowled brilliantly but once their first spell was gone there was no back-up. Both were bowled into the dust. Zaheer's support cast is a mix of the erratic and the untested. Sreesanth returns to the scene of his original triumph with much promise and relatively few wickets to show, and Ishant Sharma's first crisis has come rather too early in life. Beyond them lie the rookies, Umesh Yadav and Jaidev Unadkat, and none in the top six bowls briskly.

For India to have a chance of making inroads into a seriously good batting line-up, Sreesanth and Ishant have to deliver; even more than the fabled batsmen need to. If they do, India will run South Africa close, even overwhelm them occasionally but you can't help getting the feeling that India's bowling is skating on thin ice; that the cast will have to rise significantly above the script.

India start the series as both No. 1 and as underdog. In their conditions, South Africa are the most balanced side in the world; with the old warhorse Kallis allowing them to play five bowlers each time. They bat deep and they catch well. And though they don't quite have the aura of Australia at their peak, they will be disappointed if they lose. But if India play positively, like they did in Australia in 2003-04, they will give themselves the best opportunity of succeeding in a land they have never conquered.