When look at the amount of work that has gone into this India campaign, I really have to give some credit to the Indians who will be asked to play a lot of cricket in order to avoid a large setback after their Australian campaign.

The pressure will be on the Indians - as South Africans know, an away draw will do the trick.

Considering how the Aussies struggled against India in Australia, I doubt whether winning ion the sub-continent can be a benchmark and by all accounts, the same Australians wouldn't beat India in India. South Africa are in a completely different ball game.

The Proteas do, however, have enough in the tank to take the Indians at home and I wonder if a number of irons are being kept in the fire to heat things up in the second and third Tests? The one idea I like the most is that of 'super subs' or late substitutes joining the tour part later on.

The idea of Herschelle Gibbs, Charl Langeveldt and Andre Nel arriving to bolster the cause midway through the series is enticing. Imagine Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Monde Zondeki and Jacques Kallis as a battering ram, softening up the Indians with bent-back breaking-ball work, only to be alternated with heavy-duty fire spewing from Nel and an aggrieved Langeveldt reunited in the second Test?

This is seriously scary stuff, even for the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, whom we know is a bunny in the headlights against South Africa with a paltry average of 38.