A Test victory in South Africa, let alone a series triumph, has always eluded India, since their first tour in 1992-93. India have toured there three times for Test series, and each has been disappointing. In 1992-93, they were up against a South Africa side which had just seen daylight in international cricket after over 20 years. After drawing the first two Tests, they lost the third quite decisively. A whitewash in 1996-97 seemed likely after the first two Tests, but Rahul Dravid restored some pride in the third, before Daryll Cullinan and bad light stood in the way of a possible maiden victory for India. Dravid's last-day heroics with Deep Dasgupta at Port Elizabeth saved India a Test in 2001-02 - a match marred by the Mike Denness affair. India have drawn both their Tests in Johannesburg, the venue for the first Test, while South Africa have had mixed results, winning three and losing two of their last five matches at the Wanderers. It is often taken for granted that Indian batsmen are sitting ducks on South African pitches, but the statistics reveal a twist. With the exception of Virender Sehwag, the least experienced among the big guns, the rest average more in South Africa than at home. Sachin Tendulkar, for instance, has scored all his three centuries against the South Africans in their own backyard. The table below indicates that while the individual records make for good reading, the batsmen have failed to click collectively. India's woes at the top of the order have been perennial, and there seems to be no solution in sight on this tour as well, given the travails of Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer. Since 1992-93, the Indian openers average 32.07 in 29 completed innings while the corresponding figure for their South African counterparts stands at 45 in the same number of innings.Arriving at a settled opening pair has put the team management in a quandary in all tours. The 1992-93 series had three different combinations but on the next tour the number of combinations - four - outnumbered the number of Tests, as players like Dravid and Nayan Mongia had to fill in as makeshift openers. Interestingly, the only two occasions when the Indian openers have managed to add more than 50 in South Africa has been at the Wanderers in Johannesburg: the highest stand is 90 between Vikram Rathore and Mongia in 1996-97, with the second-highest being 68 between Ajay Jadeja and Ravi Shastri in 1992-93.
However, while the Indian spinners have been among the wickets here, they have certainly helped keep the runs in check. Among all ten Test-playing countries, it is in South Africa where the Indian spinners have bowled the highest percentage of maidens - 25.87, since 1992.