John Fowles, in trying to explain cricket to Americans, wanted to address the apparently innocuous "pitching" of one Bishen Bedi, the wonderful Indian spin bowler who played between 1966 and 1979. Writing in 1973 for Sports Illustrated, the English novelist's explanation ran to more than 5000 words and, judging by the appeal of cricket to Americans in 2015, had virtually no impact in the US. But he did beautifully capture an image of spin bowling on a raging turner.For a batsman facing Bedi on such a pitch, Fowles wrote, was like being trapped in a cage with a cobra. Last week, South Africa's batsmen would have felt a bit like that in Mohali as the Indian spinners bowled their team to its fourth successive Test victory. Of the 20 South African wickets that fell in the 108-run defeat that allowed India to go 1-0 up in the four-match series, 19 went to the spin of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra.Varun Aaron took the 20th, but watch this Indian fast bowler. His figures might not look that impressive now and he's played only eight Tests over five years, but he's tightened his line and he's the fastest of the recent crop of Indian pacemen who are too often treated like second-class bowlers on home pitches. He could be India's next Zaheer Khan.But this is more about the spinners and South Africa's capitulation on a Mohali pitch that was not always the raging turner that put the fear of a cobra in a cage into some of the visiting batsmen. A few straight balls got the wickets of some accomplished batsmen on both sides.Of course, it's easier for us here at home in front of the TV to play Mishra's googly or Ashwin's arm ball than those in the Mohali cage with the cobra, but Sidharth Monga of Cricinfo has a point when he says South Africa's demons were greater in their heads than those under their feet. Apart from AB de Villiers, the South African batsmen's footwork reminded me of mine on a dance floor. And batting - especially against spin bowling - is, as Clive Lloyd liked to say, 90% from the neck up.The defeat in Mohali should not be as dispiriting as some believed in the immediate aftermath. The South Africans won the Twenty 20 and one-day series and have never lost at the next three Test venues, but for good reason: they have played in Bangalore and Nagpur only once, winning on both occasions, and never in the great Indian capital of Delhi.And spin be damned. South Africa's past successes in India - and there have been a few sensational ones - have been achieved on the back of excellent pace bowling. In Nagpur five years ago, Dale Steyn took 10 wickets in the match that South Africa won by an innings (and Hashim Amla made 253, memories of which might help rekindle his form).If Morné Morkel and Dale Steyn are fit and if Kagiso Rabada is retained, South Africa could again attack the Indians with a pace attack that also includes an improved Vernon Philander. After all, they now have Dean Elgar and, hopefully, a fit JP Duminy to provide the spin options. Imran Tahir and Simon Harmer, their 11 wickets notwithstanding, hardly put the fear of a caged cobra into the Indian batting...