Red and black are the colours of the anarchist flag. Those hues signify the potential for different kinds of anarchy on India's cricket pitches. If the soil is red, expect bounce. If it's black, prepare for turn.

The pitch for Wednesday's men's T20 World Cup match between Afghanistan and South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium? Red soil.

That will make the South Africans happy. Their squad bristles with Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Corbin Bosch and Kwena Maphaka. No-one in the Afghan squad packs the kind of pace punch as any member of that speedy six.

But none of South Africa's bowlers, quicks or spinners, are ranked in the top 10 in the format. Or in the top 20. Or even in the top 30. Come in No. 31: Jansen. Afghanistan have Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the top 10 and Fazalhaq Farooqi at No. 27.

Of course, Rashid and Mujeeb are spinners. So will that take them out of the equation on Wednesday? No. For one thing, the match is scheduled to start at 11am (IST). So the dewy zip that helped Ngidi take 4/31 against Canada on Monday shouldn't be in evidence under a hot, drying sun. For another, Rashid and Mujeeb are fine bowlers. Their success, in India and elsewhere, is built on more than the colour of the soil beneath their feet. Rashid made the point, politely but firmly, on Tuesday.

"No-one can tell you how the pitch will behave before the game," he said. "Everyone gives their point of view. But sometimes it's a 250 pitch, and sometimes it's a 150 pitch. If you put these things in your mind too much it affects your mentality. Nowadays I hear a lot of discussion about the pitch. We don't really discuss the skills we have and bring to the game."

Neither do cricket's chattering classes - including the press - pay enough heed to the fact that, in the franchise era, no set of conditions is properly foreign to cricketers good enough to be picked in a World Cup squad.

"Players from opposition teams have played on this ground during the 2023 [ODI] World Cup and in the IPL," Rashid said. "They also know the conditions here. It's not just about me having played a lot here."

Rashid has played 23 T20s in Ahmedabad. But England, New Zealand, Pakistan, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa were all at the world's biggest cricket stadium during the 2023 World Cup. England and Australia were there twice each - the latter in the final, when they beat India by six wickets.

Eight members of Afghanistan's current squad have played in the IPL, along with 13 of South Africa's. That's 70% of the total. Foreign conditions? Hardly.

David Miller has appeared in 17 T20s in Ahmedabad. Both he and Rashid have been on Gujarat Titans' books. Tristan Stubbs, who was a Mumbai Indian in 2022 and 2023 before moving to Delhi Capitals for the 2024 and 2025 IPLs, has played three T20s at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

In the first of them, for Delhi in April 2024, Gujarat were bowled out for 89 and Stubbs was not required to bat in his team's reply of 92/4 in 8.2 overs. That was a night game.

Stubbs' next visit to the ground was in broad daylight in April 2025. Delhi batted first, and Stubbs scored 31 off 21 in a total of 203/8. The Titans chased that down with seven wickets and four balls to spare. Jos Buttler launched an unbeaten 97 off 54.

David Miller has played 15 T20s at Wednesday's venue, among them that April 2024 game - when he made two off six. In a day/nighter there for Kings XI Punjab against Rajasthan Royals in April 2015, he scored 54 off 30. The match was tied: both teams totalled 191/6.

Miller made an unbeaten 39 off 23 on Monday night, putting on 75 off 39 with Tristan Stubbs to take South Africa to 213/4; the highest total of the tournament so far. Monday's game started at 7pm - eight hours after the first ball is due to be bowled on Wednesday.

"The conditions will be different, I truly believe that," Miller said. "It's about making sure we assess and adapt quickly and well. It might be a bit slow and turn a little bit more, but it might not."

Whatever the colour of Wednesday's pitch is, expect runs. Until a few weeks ago, Stubbs wouldn't have expected to be back at the stadium until this year's IPL. He had been left out of South Africa's T20 World Cup squad, but became a late inclusion when Donovan Ferreira was ruled out with a broken collarbone sustained during the SA20.

In the same competition, first-time captain Stubbs led Sunrisers Eastern Cape to their third title in the four seasons of the tournament's history. He scored 63 not out off 41 and shared a matchwinning unbroken stand of 114 off 65 with Matthew Breetzke, who made 68 not out, in the final against Pretoria Capitals at Newlands on January 25.

By then, Stubbs knew he would be coming to India after all - having been informed by Shukri Conrad in December that he would surplus to the original requirements.

"I got told just before the [SA20] play-offs that I was in the World Cup squad, so I didn't really have time to think that I was coming here - I was fully invested in the SA20," Stubbs said. "It was a two-day celebration after we won that, and then I jumped straight in again. It's a bit crazy but I'm very happy to be here."

In seven T20I innings last year, Stubbs scored 152 runs at a strike rate of 121.6. That explained his omission from the World Cup squad. But he has now gone six innings without being dismissed, the last of them a significant 34 not out off 19 in South Africa's 57-run win over Canada.

Besides Ahmedabad, those trips to the crease have come at St George's Park, Kingsmead, Newlands, the Wanderers, and the Wankhede. That's about as contrasting a set of conditions as possible. And yet no bowler, or runout artist, has been able to dismiss Stubbs.

Conditions are important, but they are only one of a slew of variables that together comprise the organised anarchy we call a cricket match.