Kolkata, Nov. 13 -- Anyone who has seen live Allan Donald marking his run-up as South Africa returned to international cricket at the Eden Gardens in 1991 is unlikely to forget it. Donald walked, kept walking and then walked some more. Nearly eight years before that November afternoon, Eden had seen West Indies pulverise India with Michael Holding whispering death in a feared pace attack that also had Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts and Winston Davis. Bob Willis, Ian Botham, Imran Khan had all been here in their prime but this felt faster, more furious. Donald had India at 3/2, having induced an edge off Ravi Shastri before a delivery speared into Sanjay Manjrekar's wicket. Awestruck, Eden then saw Donald dismiss Navjot Sidhu. Twenty-one years of isolation had paused, not ended, the tradition of excellent South African fast bowlers. To the list that had Mike Procter and Peter Pollock before they were banned because of apartheid, you could add Donald, Lance Klusener, Makhaya Ntini (first South African to take 10 wickets at Lord's), Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and Jacques Kallis. It was on the back of an array of fast bowlers that SA became the world's No.1 Test team in 2012 under Graeme Smith. From 2006 to 2015 when they toured India, South Africa were unbeaten away. Tim Wigmore has pointed out in "Test Cricket: A History" that between 1992 and January 2025, 23 fast bowlers had taken 275 wickets of whom seven were from South Africa. It is a trend that has endured. "We're a team without any superstars," said South Africa coach Shukri Conrad here on Wednesday before amending the statement with, "maybe one, the obvious one in (Kagiso) Rabada". Maybe that explains why left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj started as a pace bowler. Omar Henry, Paul Adams, Pat Symcox and Imran Tahir have flown the flag for slow bowlers but as Wigmore has pointed out, no team has bowled a lower percentage of overs with spin than South Africa. Which makes this squad markedly different. The world's best Test team have come to India with Maharaj, Simon Harmer and Senuran Muthusamy. "I think Pakistan was a big one for Harmer," said Smith about the off-spinner who took 4/51 in Lahore and 6/50 in Rawalpindi, both in the second innings. In Pakistan last month, South Africa's spin trio shared 33 wickets in two Tests before coming to India. Left-arm spinner Muthusamy was adjudged Player-of-the-Series and Maharaj took the Player-of-the-Match award in Rawalpindi....