Anil Kumble took four wickets for 117 runs on Thursday and India dismissed South Africa for 373 to take a 41-run first-innings lead on day three of the third and final Test.
Kumble bowled Dale Steyn for one and then dismissed Makhaya Ntini leg before wicket with his next ball to finish off the innings.
He was bowling on a pitch giving spinners unaccustomed assistance and wrapped up the tail in his 43rd over, while Shantha Sreesanth took 2-58 in 24 overs.
Kumble's success came after Shaun Pollock and Mark Boucher shared a 69-run seventh-wicket partnership that rebuilt South Africa's innings from a mini-collapse before tea. They had lost three wickets for 21 runs to start the final session of the day on 283-6.
Pollock hit just two fours in his 31 as Boucher dominated the partnership in the face of a sustained spin attack on a surface offering turn and bounce to Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.
Pollock was eventually tempted into a drive when Zaheer Khan took the new ball and he edged to Sourav Ganguly at first slip. Boucher fell for 50 off 99 balls with six fours when he edged a ball from Munaf Patel to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.
Between lunch and tea, Tendulkar, Kumble and Sehwag each took a wicket to vindicate captain Rahul Dravid's decision to turn down the new ball after 80 overs.
Tendulkar tempted Jacques Kallis to sweep a ball from outside off stump and he was caught by Patel on the midwicket boundary for 54 -- his 41st Test half century.
Ashwell Prince was on 26 when he got an inside edge to a delivery from Kumble which deflected into his stumps. Herschelle Gibbs was then out for 7, caught at short leg by Wasim Jaffer off Sehwag's bowling, although television replays suggested the ball came off his thigh.
South Africa had lost another two wickets before lunch, having resumed on 144-1 after India were dismissed for 414 on Wednesday. Captain Graeme Smith was out for 94 when Sehwag caught him at short mid-on off Kumble's bowling, while Hashim Amla edged a ball from Sreesanth to Karthik three overs later.
Smith hit 14 fours and a six off 142 balls and shared a 159-run stand with Amla, who scored 63.
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