Looks can be deceptive. Even the most beautiful city, like a pretty woman, can in actuality be really wicked and dangerous. Durban is exactly like that pretty woman. Its flowing beaches and impeccable landscape, marked by a small-town feel, looks like a quiet and wonderful city. But if you soak it in for a while, you can easily see the sense of violence lurking beneath. It's just not safe. Not at night; not in broad daylight.

The Kingsmead, Durban's cricket ground, is a reflection of the city. At first glance, it is amazingly charming. The stands are immaculate and brightly coloured; the open spaces for picnicking families are even more inviting. But out in the middle, on the pitch, it is equally unsafe.

Durban is easily the bounciest and fastest pitch in South Africa. It is a dangerous place for batsmen, especially for those who have honed their skills and built their reputations on featherbeds back home. You might not exactly get killed on it but you can't live peacefully either.

India take on South Africa in the second day-nighter here on Wednesday. It will be their biggest test on this tour. What makes it worse is the fact that they have played only one practice game and the first ODI too got washed out. It means they will begin their campaign on the most difficult track. No wonder, South Africa's coach Micky Arthur was looking smug: "It's the best track. We saw the track in the nets and we were delighted. If the main pitch is anywhere close to that, we'd like it very much."

The main pitch looks hard and bouncy; it has a thin layer of live grass too. It threatens to explode when the game gets underway on Wednesday afternoon. The good news for India is that the forecast is for rain. According to local estimates, there's a 60 per cent chance of rain; in other words, it's definitely going to come down.

In fact, at the time of writing, the clouds had slowly circled the city. It became dark and the air had become cooler and mistier. Earlier, we were greeted by the meanest and loudest thunderclap too. It rained heavily for close to an hour before the sun broke through.

Another performance like that later at night and we can be sure of an interrupted game. The Indian batsmen, however, have to perform like they haven't done in recent times. They are likely to go in with six batsmen, plus Dhoni, and four specialist bowlers here too. Virender Sehwag is also expected to be in that list. It would, however, be interesting to see if there's space for a spinner here too. Logic, and South African whispers, says that an all-pace attack will be more useful in Durban. That would mean Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan and S Sreesanth sharing the honours again. If the spinner has to be sacrificed, there's an outside chance that Zaheer Khan might play.

The other good news is that India have good memories from the last World Cup. They won two big matches here, against Kenya in the semifinal and England before that, and understand the conditions. The only problem is, the South Africans do too.

Teams (likely):

India: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth.

South Africa: Graeme Smith, Loots Bosman, Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher, Justin Kemp, Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Charl Langeveldt.

Live on ESPN from 6.00 pm

Indiatimes
Again NO place for Kumble in the playing 11 , could this be India's biggest Mistake ?