South Africa openers central to solving batting puzzle

Spot the difference in these pairs: Gary Kirsten and Andrew Hudson, Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs, Graeme Smith and Andrew Hall, Smith and Neil McKenzie, Smith and Ashwell Prince, Smith and Alviro Petersen, Dean Elgar and Stiaan van Zyl.

Each of South Africa's five Test tours to India before this one has included either Gary Kirsten or Graeme Smith as one of the openers. The "G" might as well stand for gravitas.

Kirsten scored South Africa's first and third centuries in India, at Eden Gardens on the 1996-97 tour, to earn their first victory in the country. Smith never reached three-figures in India but led with the same strong will it would have taken to score a century. Under him, South Africa drew series in 2008 and 2010.

Kirsten and Smith were coach and captain when South Africa took the Test mace off England in August 2012. They oversaw an era, of which one of the hallmarks was strength at the top: big runs from big players in big matches. Dean Elgar and Stiaan van Zyl, who have just 24 Test and 1152 runs between them, have big shoes to fill.

The opening partnership is particularly important in the subcontinent where the value of runs up front is magnified because of deteriorating surfaces; batting becomes harder as the match goes on. Before this tour, South Africa had played 12 Tests in India and their opening batsmen had scored six centuries. Only one of those - Alviro Petersen's 100 in Kolkata - was scored in a losing cause. The message is simple: the chances of success are higher if one of the openers come off.

India proved as much in the Mohali Test, where M Vijay was one of only three batsmen to show the temperament and technique to pass the stern test posed by a sluggish pitch and spinners from ball one. Chesteshwar Pujara and AB de Villiers were the others, with Elgar and van Zyl not too far behind.

Elgar survived the early onslaught in both innings by drawing on his inner-Smith. His stay at the crease seemed a result of determination rather than skill. His shot selection let him down both times, a sign of irritation not inability. Off the field, Elgar has the same kind of abrasive outer layer Smith had. For example, when asked about the challenge of opening in India before the match, he was bold to the point of being bullish.

"I think it is quite an important role, especially in your first innings. Being the opener you set the platform for the middle order. It is quite an important role but I don't see it as a big pressure, I just take it as another game." No one has had the chance to ask whether he has changed his mind. The answer is probably no.

Van Zyl has a little less bulldog in him, or maybe it's there but it has yet to bark. Instead, he has the demeanour of a No. 3 - quietly self-assured - which makes sense given that was the position in which he scored the reams of runs in the domestic set-up that made it impossible to ignore him higher up. The reservation over whether he could successfully turn into an opener is still there, and the Mohali Test would only have deepened it.

Van Zyl only batted for 23 minutes in the first innings in Mohali but even in that short time, he looked uncomfortable. He was in the unfamiliar situation of facing a a spinner upfront. He was dismissed not offering a shot.

Then, South Africa chose not to use him to open the batting in the second innings and promoted Vernon Philander in his place. At face value, that decision could have indicated lack of confidence in van Zyl. In context, it was a crafty move to promote Philander, who usually bats at No. 8 when the spinners are in operation and could shield the specialist batsmen upfront. Had the move paid off, South Africa would have batsmen in hand if they got close to the target.

When van Zyl got to the crease, South Africa's cause was all but lost but he seemed more in control, especially against the spinners, and shared in a 42-run stand with Simon Harmer for the seventh wicket. That partnership was just another what-if.

What if the start had been better? What if the big names had not gone bust? What if the target was still within sight? What if van Zyl is better off a little further down? The last of those is a moot point for now. South Africa do not have another opener in the squad they can consider in this series and the openers back home who have done well domestically - Stephen Cook and Andrew Puttick - have been bypassed by the selectors. Van Zyl has done well enough to merit an opportunity - he is a classy player and has been among the runs - but whether this is the best opportunity for him will only be known by the end of the series.

For now, he has Elgar's support, which is important for two reasons: Elgar is the senior partner, although only marginally in Test-match experience terms, and the relationship between openers is crucial to their success. "We complement each other quite well," Elgar said. "I seem to be the more aggressive one and he seems to be the quieter one."

Given their relative inexperience at this level, though, for now, South Africa have to go somewhere else for the gravitas they used to get from the G's and that somewhere is the senior batsmen who will be bolstered by the return of JP Duminy for the Bangalore Test. Duminy has recovered from a cut on his hand and, with his team-mates, used the early end in Mohali to pack in some extra preparation.

On Monday, South Africa batted on scuffed up surfaces at the Punjab Cricket Association nets trying to replicate what they expect in the coming contests. If anything, they will be hoping we can spot the difference in how they bat between Mohali and the other three Tests.