Johannesburg: This bastion in the South of Africa is hard to breach. Many have failed and fallen.

Is the task impossible? Well, almost.

Only Australia and England have managed to conquer South Africa on its home soil after the nation returned to the international fold. But then, the Australians win everywhere.

However, there are significant pointers in the Australian example for Team India. The South African armour glitters, but it cannot quite hide the chinks.

The South Africans are beatable at home. And there are reasons.

Sameness of the attack

The South African attack is a bunch of similar bowlers. All right-arm fast or right-arm medium fast seam bowlers; the omission of Charl Langeveldt means the side lacks a genuine swing bowler. There is no left-arm pace option. Nor does the team have a quality spinner.

The convener of the South African selection panel Haroon Lorgat has already indicated that the South African will enter the first two Tests with an all-pace attack. The pitch at the Wanderers will have juice and it is a fact that the Indians do not like throat balls; they do not like to be probed in the corridor either.

But if the Indians can see through the early phase with minimal damage, then they can create opportunities for themselves. The Kookaburra ball will be an ally, so will be the lack of variation in the South African bowling.

Pace is South Africa's strength. It can also be its weakness.

The Australian way

It is interesting to see how the Australians made a major breakthrough at the same ground — the Wanderers — in the 1997 series. Steve Waugh and Greg Blewett got themselves in and they batted on and on. Waugh scored a big hundred, and Blewett notched up a double.

What happened later in that significant Test is even more interesting. The mesmerising Shane Warne scalped four, and the unlikely left-arm wrist spin of Michael Bevan accounted for an equal number of batsmen. The South Africans lost by a mile.

This, really, was the beginning of Australia's dominance over South Africa in Tests. Australia squeezed out a two-wicket win in the Port Elizabeth Test. And the series was clinched.

Somebody like Rahul Dravid — the Indian skipper is likely to play the first Test — could well don Steve Waugh's role and the others, like Blewett, could take the cue from the skipper.

Indian coach Greg Chappell said the other day, "South Africa has a Plan `A' in place. It does not have a plan `B'. It has little to fall back on if things go wrong."

A wobbly top-order

Take away Graeme Smith's blitzkrieg in the dead rubber ODI at Centurion and the South African skipper has been struggling for runs. There is a question mark over the home top-order. The middle order has not performed collectively either. There are holes in this South African line-up.

Anil Kumble almost bowled India to Test victories here in the past, and the leg-spinner could make major inroads into what is essentially a line-up weaker — particularly against spin — than those from the past.

The South Africans have been vulnerable to consistent pressure. They have crumbled in the past, when pushed against the wall.

This barrier can be surmounted.

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