South Africa have begun the tour on a positive note, going one-up in the T20 series, and they played exceptionally well at Dharamsala on Friday to chase 200 runs.

The dew would have always been a factor and winning the toss was crucial. But, even with the dew, when you put 200 on the board to be chased it is a tough task. The good thing for South Africa is that they never let the run-rate go past 12 and that’s important when you chase big totals. Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the Indian bowlers and you have to give credit to him that he did not let the team down despite the dew factor.

The teams now go to Cuttack, where there are completely different conditions. The Barabati Stadium is a lot bigger than the one at Dharamsala, which will help spinners, and the conditions in the eastern part of India will not let the ball get wet at night.

The Indian seamers will need to pull up their socks. It is an attack that doesn’t have much pace and captain MS Dhoni needs to balance his bowling against a strong South African batting line-up.

Sreenath Aravind had a tough debut. It’s always very hard for a newcomer to get into the T20 format groove straight away on such good batting pitches like we have in India. Hopefully he will learn from this outing.

The selectors will also need to be patient with the young bowler and give him a few more opportunities. He’s not express, but with time he will have to understand that, when bowling in batting-friendly conditions, one has to find a way to be effective. The key for him would be to get mentally tough.

The Indian batting, especially Rohit Sharma, was outstanding on Friday. He is a different player in these conditions and will continue to be a threat.

Both the sides have to look at the bigger picture of this long series. That’s why the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel have not started their tour and that is some very good thinking on the part of the South Africans.

JP Duminy played superbly and, when I say superbly, it’s not just about the runs but the maturity he showed while he played two different types of spinners. He attacked Axar Patel, the left-arm spinner, and put Farhaan Behardien on strike when the offie was bowling, which I think is a lesson for every young batter that, even under pressure in the T20 format, there is a method to the madness.

Monday’s game is must-win one for India and the advantage is that the spinners will get a bit more bounce and grip than they got in Dharamsala.

— Gameplan