The way Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs have been batting of late, bowlers worldwide may soon take to the cloth and seek refuge in God. Both men have been consistent performers over the years, but the last couple of months have seen them take their partnership to another level. With Jacques Kallis – first choice at No. 3 in any World XI – to follow, South Africa's top order looks as safe as Fort Knox. This match was a tale of two opening partnerships. Sourav Ganguly set the Wanderers alight in the afternoon with strokeplay of incandescent brilliance. There were quite a few inside edges and slogs, but the shots off the middle of the bat were so sweetly struck that you could forgive him the odd indiscretion.

By contrast, Sachin Tendulkar was caution and tentativeness personified. His timing was pedestrian in comparison to Ganguly's, and he struggled to pierce the packed off-side fields set for him. Only late in his innings did he establish anything like his usual dominance – a consequence, no doubt, of his four months away from the top table.

Although the Tendulkar-Ganguly legend was further embellished today, it paled alongside the South African openers' own onslaught. Gibbs started things off with two magnificent cover-drives off Prasad, then Kirsten spanked the bowlers merrily on both sides of the wicket. Srinath and Prasad were both woeful in their opening spells, two carthorses just begging to be put to pasture. Five overs into the South African reply, you knew India didn't have a prayer, so brutal was the punishment being meted out.

India got their line-up wrong. Going in with only four bowlers was sheer stupidity on this track, more so when you look at the performance of the so-called leading lights. Harbhajan Singh has to play in the next game, if only because he is always looking to take wickets.

South Africa's batting papered over some of the cracks in their bowling. There is a sameness to their attack, especially in the absence of Allan Donald, that makes talk of a challenge to Australia wishful thinking. McGrath, Gillespie, Lee and Warne are a couple of notches above Pollock, Nel, Ntini and Klusener. Apart from Pollock, the rest offer as much variety as the clothes on show at a black-tie dinner.

Make no mistake; this is a very good South African side. Australia, though, they most certainly are not. Ganguly and Tendulkar exposed the soft underbelly today. If only India had some bowlers to complete the job.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com India.

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