Ravi Shastri, writing in his column in the Asian Age (sorry, URL hard to retrieve) makes quite an interesting suggestion, and I quote:


This win though still doesn't crown a triumphant campaign which must now be India's aim. They can fine tune the team for Kingsmead by
bringing in Irfan Pathan and it would mean laying off Wasim Jaffer for the moment. It's a drastic measure and in no way is a vote of no-confidence against
the likeable Mumbai opener. It's simply what India need best to stay on top against an opposition who would now be an enraged beast.

Pathan’s assets are obvious: he has been on this tour for over a month and his batting is just getting in order on these pitches. He is a left-hander to boot which is always a drain on the concentration of a bowler. As a left-handed bowler, he could play a good relieving role for the present strike-forces of the team. It’s horses for courses really. Even Dravid opening can become a possibility.

After initially dismissing the idea as outlandish, I must say the idea of Pathan opening grew on me after a while. While it will be quite unfair on Gambhir, who was picked as the backup opener, and while there will be plenty of chest-beating over the "experimentation" should it fail, at the end of the day it looked to me as a bet worth taking. Pathan has been batting very well lately, with two chanceless & unbeaten knocks of 40 and 111 in the Pootchefstroom practice match earlier (where, notably, the only other Indian batsman to cross 50 was Ganguly). Like a friend pointed out, after all we discovered Sehwag the opener in a similar manner.I wouldn't consider the option of Dravid opening for an instant (as Shastri suggests); we all remember too well what happened the last time around when he opened in a test match in Pakistan;he is worth his weight in gold as the #1 down batsman. Another fast bowling (ok, make that medium pace) option to the Indian attack will definitely help on the Durban wicket, which is supposed to be even more pacer friendly that Jo'burg.

That said, I'm skeptical of it happening, given the noises that our Chief Selector Vengsarkar has been making lately, stressing a conservative approach and fixed batting positions at the top.