South Africa won the first of their five one-day internationals against India in Kapur this afternoon by a five-run margin.
Both AB de Villiers and Rohit Sharma scored centuries, but it was the former of those two that was celebrating come the end of the encounter as the Proteas extended their recent positive form over the Indians, having also defeated them 2-0 in a T20 series.
For much of his unbeaten knock of 104, De Villiers was accompanied at the crease by Faf du Plessis before he was trapped lbw by Umesh Yadav for 62.
However, despite Du Plessis's dismissal, the tourists were still able to go on to post 303-5 from their 50 overs.
In reply, opener Sharma scored freely, but aside from Ajinkya Rahane's 60-run contribution, India lost wickets at regular intervals.
Sharma was eventually caught and bowled by Imran Tahir immediately after he had reached 150 and despite a quick-fire 31 off 30 balls from MS Dhoni, the hosts could only post 298-7.
The two teams will meet again on Wednesday at the Holker Stadium in Indore.
Liam Apicella
