Sixteen little grains of rice squirm valiantly in a giant pressure cooker calledSouth Africa. One of them says to his mates, "Oh! I just can't take the heat, boys." Another grain, wearing a turban, pipes up from the corner, "It's okay, Javagal, just soak it up."

Logic decrees that India should be soundly beaten by South Africa in the three-Test series starting on Saturday at Bloemfontein. South Africa are a powerful team in home conditions, and they have all the weapons they need to demolish India. The Indians are suspect against genuine pace, and while Allan Donald and Mfuneko Ngam are injured, South Africa have Nantie Hayward and Charl Langeveldt up their sleeve; Hayward has regularly surpassed 150 kmph this season, and has bowled with more control than in the past. Bouncy pitches, Hayward-Pollock-Ntini-Langeveldt steaming in: how's it cooking, Sourav?

Then there are the batsmen. South Africa's consistency is mind-boggling. In their last 10 Tests, their average first-innings score is 388. Gary Kirsten's average in his last 10 matches is 52.62. Jacques Kallis's is 57.46. Hell, even Shaun Pollock, who bats No. 8 and lower, averages 58.37. And if you think they can't play spin, consider that they beat India in India in March 2000 - India's first home defeat for 13 years - and treated Anil Kumble with nonchalant disdain on turning tracks and against SG balls, with their prominent seams that India's spinners love. What they don't know, these guys, they learn.

To supplement that, there is the team India loses to most often: India. This is a side with what is on paper one of the best middle orders in the world. The combined averages of India's Nos. 3 to 6 add up to 188.5. Australia's figure is 188.7, and South Africa's a paltry 141.3. And yet, India have lost three of their last five Tests, one against Zimbabwe, who by rights would struggle against India's A team. And despite this line-up, India's first-innings average in the eight Test matches since the start of the historic home series against Australia earlier this year is just 257.

The many weapons India use to beat themselves are well-chronicled: indiscipline, inability to handle pressure, incapacity to stay focussed for all 15 sessions of a match - if they last that long. These are inherent flaws, and the Indian selectors have chosen to supplement them with some man-made ones, such as the opening and wicketkeeping selections.

The cancellation of India's only warm-up game means that Connor Williams will be going in blind into the first Test. If his technique is found to be flawed, as was the case with Debang Gandhi on the Australian tour, there will be no back-up, and a makeshift opener will emerge. Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sameer Dighe? The first two will be uneasy to take up the challenge, the third not up to it. And what if Das is out of form? Heard the whistle, anyone?

India have also chosen two wicketkeepers for the series, testimony to the implied incompetence of both Dighe and Deep Dasgupta. Keeping to Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh on these bouncy tracks will be no cakewalk, and India might well rue not selecting Nayan Mongia, just as they might rue not having the extra opener whose slot the second keeper usurped.

What South Africa would do well to watch out for, however, would be the moments of Indian magic that can turn a match around and whisk it away in the blink of an eye. And the likely magician of the moment, true to type, wears a turban.

Harbhajan Singh's spin was not quite in the comfort zone of the South Africans in the one-day triangular. Herschelle Gibbs, in particular, read it like an upside-down book of Sanskrit. An intelligent bowler who knows how to bowl within his limits, which expand with every passing game, he will be a handful for the South Africans. Kumble will be excellent support for him, perhaps even more lethal now that he can hunt as part of a pair.

The middle order of VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly is also capable of taking away a match on its own. The problem is, they rarely click when it matters. But only a couple of them need to get going, as we saw in Calcutta earlier this year.

The pitches should suit Laxman: the ball will come on easily to the bat, the bounce will be true, and his back-foot play should allow him to adapt easily to South African conditions. Tendulkar has been making an effort of late not to throw his wicket away, to hang in there, to build a big innings. His 126 against Australia in the third Test in Chennai, and his two fifties in Zimbabwe this year bear testimony to his new resolve, even if they haven't brought India any spectacular wins yet. Who can get him out besides himself?

South Africa, it is safe to say, will be their usual powerfully efficient self. Victory or defeat will depend on how much India can raise their game, or how easily they capitulate in the face of pressure. Hey, who's that sinking in the corner? Eat him, someone.

Amit Varma is assistant editor of Wisden.com India.

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