South Africa's marathon cricket tour of India starts in earnest a week from today, with the first of three Twenty20s. So how have they fared in the shortest format in that country?Nobody knows.Ten years after they played the first of their 80 T20s, South Africa have yet to experience one in India. Not that the two haven't met in this shortest format of the game.In fact, South Africa have faced India in eight T20s - more than they have played against six of the dozen countries they have met in the 20-over game.But those eight matches have taken place in South Africa, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates. So a smidgen of history will be created next Friday when India and South Africa meet at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association ground in Dharamsala - the home, in exile, of the Dalai Lama.However, that is only true at senior international level. As members of Indian Premier League sides and lesser representative teams, South Africans are thoroughly acquainted with playing T20 cricket in India.AB de Villiers, for instance, has turned out in T20s at 16 different Indian grounds and has played 36 of them in Bangalore alone.But how much will all that be worth in Dharamsala next week with national pride at stake and the most passionate crowd in the game screaming for the home side?"It's a very volatile crowd who are very aggressive in their support of India," veteran coach Ray Jennings said. "No one in those stands is going to be shouting for South Africa - not like here, where there are almost always some who support the opposition."India are, of course, very experienced with regard to the [small] size of their fields and the nature of their pitches," Jennings said. "They will prepare pitches to enhance their skills and neutralise ours and variations in the conditions will also be important."Bangalore tends to be slow, but one or two other places have bounce," he said.After 72 days, five one-day internationals and four Tests in India, the Proteas will know all that...