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Paul Harris is a character straight out of a Vegas gambling film. He says “perception is often reality” and batsmen perceive him to be an innocuous bowler, and that’s where he says he gets his wickets. He played around with his own perception to become the most successful spinner in the match, his “innocuous” outside-the-leg line from over the stumps getting him the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and M Vijay, the only men who looked like they could deny South Africa. Thanks to Harris, the fast bowlers didn’t need to bust their gut in consigning India to their third innings defeat at home in the last 10 years - all three to the same opposition.

The double-century continued to elude Jacques Kallis but not Hashim Amla, who accumulated his way to the highest Test score by a South African in India. He also provided solidity from the other end as AB de Villiers played havoc with the spinners’ lengths during a 108-run partnership that followed the 340-run stand between Kallis and Amla, the fifth-highest association in India. On a pitch behaving like it was a fourth-day track, it seemed a formidable total.

Jacques Kallis defended like a rock, attacked like The Rock, put behind him the odd play and miss, and scored 120 out of South Africa’s 193 for 2 by tea. Hashim Amla, who joined him at 6 for 2, gave him the strike when he was in the zone and took charge after tea when India slowed the scoring down with defensive fields and reverse-swing. Both scored unbeaten centuries to put together South Africa’s highest partnership against India and, by stumps, render Zaheer Khan’s opening spell of 6-4-2-2 to a footnote.

Let’s forget the ICC rankings. Let’s look at it this way, similar to how Jarrod Kimber did in his blog. The undisputed best team in the world should have won their last home and away series against every other team, or most of the teams. Neither of India, South Africa or Australia have a big lead on that count. Australia lost their last series in India and at home to South Africa. India lost both in South Africa and Australia. South Africa lost to Australia at home, and drew in India. Australia lost in England, while India and South Africa lost in Sri Lanka.

India need only draw with South Africa in the upcoming two-match series to retain the No. 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings. But if they lose the series, being billed as a world championship bout, they stand to lose the US$175,000 the ICC gives to the team that is on top come April 1.

MS Dhoni’s India go into the series with 125 points, five ahead of Graeme Smith’s South Africa, whom they displaced at the top of the pile on December 6 with a 2-0 Test series win over Sri Lanka. A 1-0 win will lift India to 127 points and push South Africa to 118 ratings points; a 2-0 result will drop South Africa to 116 points, for which they will receive $75,000 from the ICC.

Players from South Africa involved in the IPL have written to their franchises asking for access to security reports for the 2010 tournament and have requested that they be made available to “their chosen representatives”, according to Tony Irish, the chief executive of the South African Cricketers’ Association. He added that England, New Zealand and Australian players were also taking the same step.

Players’ associations from Australia and New Zealand had also approached the IPL, asking the league for details about its security plans, but were rebuffed, with Lalit Modi saying the IPL did not recognise such bodies and would only deal directly with the various national boards.

Kepler Wessels is convinced a strong batting line-up and Graeme Smith’s “strong personality” will hold South Africa together and help them tide over the coaching crisis on their tour to India. Only four points separate the top two Test teams - if South Africa manage to win the two-match series they will displace India to go No. 1 - and Wessels believes they will pose a stiff challenge for the host in what has been billed as a world championship bout.

S Badrinath the Tamil Nadu batsman, was virtually assured of a Test debut after he was one of only six specialist batsmen named in the 15-man squad for the first Test against South Africa. During their tour of Bangladesh, India lost Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh to injuries, but the selectors named just one batting replacement. The squad also featured Karnataka fast bowler Abhimanyu Mithun as replacement for the injured Sreesanth, and Bengal wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha for Dinesh Karthik, dropped presumably for his irresponsible shot and a duck in the Chittagong Test. VVS Laxman, who injured his hand while going for a slip catch in Chittagong, was deemed fit.

Cricket South Africa is set for a structural overhaul at a meeting on February 19, the board’s chief executive Gerald Majola has said. Majola was speaking at a press conference on Wednesday following the resignation of coach Mickey Arthur and the sacking of the selection panel.

The interim selection committee, which will replace the one led by Mike Procter, comprises Majola, high performance manager Corrie van Zyl, who has also been appointed as interim coach, and former captain Kepler Wessels, who will also be the team’s batting consultant.

Mickey Arthur resignation as South Africa’s coach came in the wake of increasing pressure from administrators over what they saw as the under-performance of the national team.

Arthur quit in dramatic circumstances on Monday, reportedly following an “irreparable breakdown” in his relationship with Graeme Smith. But a source close to Cricket South Africa denied that a rift had developed between coach and captain.

“This is not a Graeme issue,” the source told Cricinfo. “Graeme is not that powerful. It looks ugly because he has been through three coaches (Eric Simons, Ray Jennings and Arthur) and three convenors of selectors, but he is still a young captain.”