Captain Jacques Kallis hit an unbeaten 91 off 116 balls to lead South Africa past India by four wickets in the first of three one-day internationals on Tuesday.
Sachin Tendulkar was run out on 99 and India finished at 242-8 after South Africa won the toss. The Proteas made 245-6 with three balls remaining.
South Africa stumbled from 99-1 to 124-4, losing Morne Van Wyk (44) and Herschelle Gibbs (5) to the legspin of Piyush Chawla, who finished with 3-47 off 10 overs.
South Africa recovered to 190 for six with 10 overs left.
Vernon Philander, who had impressed with the ball on his debut against Ireland on Sunday, displayed his allround talent with an unflustered 17 and he won the match with a drive over mid-on.
Kallis, who opted for an all-pace attack, seemed to have made the wrong decision when the Indian spinners tied his side down in mid-innings. But when the pacemen returned, Kallis, who hit six of South Africa's 22 boundaries, was content to knock the ball into the gaps.
Earlier, India were struggling at 36-2 after Andre Nel took the wickets of Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Ghambir, but Tendulkar then shared a third-wicket stand of 158 with Rahul Dravid.
Tendulkar, who was dismissed in the first over against Ireland on Saturday, took 17 balls to get off the mark. He was on course for a 42nd one-day century when he was run out from deep cover by Van Wyk.
Dravid, who has never scored a one-day century against South Africa, was out for 74 in the 44th over. The India captain scored only six boundaries in his 93-ball stay, content to rotate the strike and was out as the late slog began.
Nel, who had taken two wickets in his first three overs, broke the stand when he bowled Dravid with his second ball back in the attack.
India, whose squad was hit by a viral infection this week, scored only 29 runs from the last five overs.
RSS