Adding to the degree of difficulty is arguably the most complete pace bowling attack in the world. Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn and Chris Morris can make every blade of grass on the pitch count, and at Newlands there have been many.

On match eve, South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis did talk about his dream wicket and how Newlands can come very close to it. “In a perfect world, it will be a quick wicket that nips around a bit. We also want to try and eliminate spin as much as possible. You don’t want excessive seam movement because that brings both bowling attacks into the game. We feel with our seam resources, on a wicket that has some pace and bounce, we can exploit some of those areas in their batting line.”

The Protea plan seemed simple: to flaunt their pace and negate India’s spin strength. Plus there was the extra push that comes when a team is a fighting a common cause, a perceived wrong from the past.

India Test Squad: Virat Kohli(c), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Parthiv Patel, Jasprit Bumrah

South Africa Squad: Faf du Plessis(c), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn