South Africa's in-form opening pair of Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla each knocked up hundreds as the hosts posted a competitive 280 for six in the second cricket one-dayer against India here today.
This was de Kock's second successive century after his big ton in the first game.
In doing so, they put on an opening stand worth 194 runs, but the hosts faltered in their last 15 overs, before Vernon Philander and Ryan McLaren smashed 20 runs in the innings' 49th and final over to prop up the score.
The threat of rain loomed large, but it didn't come. Already, because of the wet outfield, the match was delayed for nearly 90 minutes, reducing the contest to 49-overs per innings. Despite the defeat at Johannesburg, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni once again opted to field, once again tempted by a greenish wicket and overcast conditions.
India made three changes in a bid to reverse the result from the first ODI. Yuvraj Singh was out due to a back spasm and Ajinkya Rahane came in. Both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma were dropped after a poor showing in the previous match, and Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma replaced them. South Africa too made a change, bringing in the fully-fit Philander for Wayne Parnell.
The inclusion of Yadav and Sharma meant that the Indian bowling attack had more teeth in terms of pace. The former opened the bowling with Mohammad Shami, and the duo exhibited some good speed and bounce. But it didn't really matter to the opening batsmen. De Kock and Amla carried on from where they left in the previous match. J P Duminy scored 26 off 29 balls, with 2 fours.
Yadav was taken off after his 2nd over, and Shami brought on from that end. In the 4th over, Ishant Sharma was introduced into the attack and he induced an edge off de Kock, but the ball flew into the vacant gully area. In the very next over, Shami too got an edge off him, but the ball landed just in front of R Ashwin at first slip.
They were the sharpest chances India could get off the duo, apart from a couple of mixed-up running shouts. From thereon, it was another run-fest as the two batsmen grounded the Indian bowling to match the colour of the sawdust sprayed on the wet outfield.
