What Pakistan can learn from the Indian South African tour

I watched India battle South Africa with great interest, as Pakistan plays them later this week. some things came to mind as I watched or read about India's performance against the Proteas.

1. Most importantly, South Africa can be beaten in their own backyard. India overcame the odds. Though Pakistan has already beaten South Africa in South Africa once before, the overall balance of power lies heavily in favor of the South Africans. Pakistan have beaten South Africa just twice and lost 5 test matches. As far as ODI's go, Pakistan has beaten them 13 times and lost 29 times. South Africa has always been a really tough team for Pakistan to overcome. But Pakistan should have faith in the news that their neighboring country has managed a victory.
   
2. 3 test matches and 3 results. So they will bowl us out. Thus Pakistan needs to charge at them early on. There is no point playing stock bowlers or all rounders. Without Razzak, there is no one else who could possibly take wickets. Malik is more a batsmen then a bowler. Asif, Gul and Rana need to emulate Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan's performance.
   
3. Play 6 specialist batsmen. Pollock and Ntini WILL bowl us out. Generally speaking, the IND-SA series was low scoring. Prince playing at number 5 or 6 turned out to be the biggest difference between the sides with his late order mustering of the tail. Asim Kamal, on our end, is the sort of player who puts a price on his wicket and gets these kinds of runs. He must play.
   
4. The openers really need to dig in. The opening partners ships in the Ind-SA series set the tempo for the innings. And they need time to adjust to the conditions. India's faith in Jaffer paid off. Pakistan shouldn't rotate the openers, but should strive to keep the consistency at the top of the order.
   
5. No one will underestimate Ntini and Pollock, but Steyn and Nel are a handful too. Attack Nel especially. I just don't like him.
6. The Kallis and Pollock factor. A factor because they will cause a selection dilemma for Pakistan. Their presence gives South Africa 5 genuine bowling options. So should Pakistan choose 6 batsmen or 5 bowlers? India bowled out South Africa convincingly only in the first test. This might persuade the selectors to perhaps insert an all-rounder instead of a batsmen. Though I believe Asif, Rana, Gul, and Kaneria, at this point in time are better bowlers than Khan, Sreesanth and Kumble on bouncy wickets. I believe it'll be a good choice to have faith in these 4, go with 6 batsmen, and bowl Hafeez if necessary.
   
7. South Africa bat deep. Boucher and Pollock are no tailenders. They put up several important partnerships against India. Pakistan need to make sure they have the bowling firepower to blow these guys out. I never thought I'd say this, but we really miss Razzak right now. His 1 or 2 wickets and 15 overs per inning are very crucial as they allow the front-line bowlers to rest.
   

The bounce will hurt Pakistan and I expect all 3 tests to have results and Ntini and Pollock to have a bunch of wickets. But we have in Bob Woolmer, a South African with an intimate knowledge of the country. Its his country and he knows what to expect from the pitches. He's done a great job for Pakistan already, but if he muster together a series victory here, it would probably rank as his best. It'll be interesting to see if Mohammad Yousuf can continue his run.

I'm a bit skeptical that Pakistan will pull of an outright victory. I feel that South African bowling surpasses our resources. Nevertheless, I'm still of the opinion that this will be very close series in my opinion based as Pakistan's batting is better as of late.