Jan. 10: It is possible that Mahendra Singh Dhoni might have been reminded of Kolkata’s Eden Gardens at the Moses Mabhida stadium during the one-off T20 international on Sunday.

The thought might not have occurred to him with regard to the size — like the iconic stadium here, the Eden is also huge, but more so because the venue was the stage for the World Cup matches — the football one — about seven months ago.

In an ideal world, a gruelling Test series should be followed with glasses of bubbly, but with exactly 40 days to go for the cricket’s biggest spectacle, it would be unwise to slow down at the last turn to the finish line. Unfortunately for India, they couldn’t have hit upon a tougher home stretch.

How much of an effect will India’s five-match ODI series against South Africa, the first of which begins on Wednesday, have a bearing on the World Cup? Does winning a series in South Africa have any connection with the World Cup?

No, says India coach Gary Kirsten “This will be forgotten by the time we get there,” said Kirsten. No, says Dhoni “The World Cup is in the back of our mind but the immediate priority is to win the game and series.” And no, says South African spinner Johan Botha. “It’s a different venue, different country, different conditions,” said Botha.

But losing a series does make a difference. Rahul Dravid’s men were beaten 0-4 in a five-match series four seasons ago. And two months later, India were knocked out in the first round of 2007 World Cup.

The numbers tell a story. In the last 10 ODIs spread over five years, the hosts have won six to India’s four. But the last game the visitors won against the Proteas on South African soil dates back to 10 years ago in Centurion when India’s gloveman was Deep Dasgupta, Shaun Pollock was the South African captain and current one Graeme Smith hadn’t even made his debut!

India have just won three ODIs out of 20 against South Africa in an away series while the latter have won a whopping 16. Winning here takes a mastery over bounce, and while veteran Indian batsmen —Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman in particular — did that to a large extent in the just-concluded drawn Test series , the juniors who form the bulk of India’s one-day playing XI still struggle with these conditions.

For many periods in the drawn Test series, surviving against the in-form duo of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel was an ardous task. In the ODIs, batsmen will be expected to flourish against them and the skiddy left-arm pace of Wayne Parnell. Consider India’s pace attack and you’ll see a huge reliance on the injury-prone Zaheer. In his absence, the side looks orphaned.

Dhoni’s men have won one thing going for them that South Africa doesn’t — form. “Smith and his boys had to fight really hard to win a recent ODI series 3-2 against a depleted Pakistan side. India, on the other hand, were very convincing in their 5-0 series win over New Zealand,” former South African batsmen Peter Kirsten said on Monday.

“I will depend on India’s ability to put pressure on Smith early by winning the initial games. Pressure can wreck the best of plans.”

India are at No. 2 in the ODI rankings table, but a series win can get them within touching distance of the top spot before the World Cup action begins. Easier said than done, though.