After the Indian innings folded for a paltry 188 in 45.5 overs on a green-top, Smith, in the company of fellow opener Andrew Hall (48 not out), put on 189 runs to put to rest any chance of a fightback by the home team.

Smith’s knock came off merely 124 balls and was studded with 20 boundaries and a huge six. It was Smith’s first ODI century against India, and one he will remember. In the evening, when dew set in and the seamers found it tough to get the foothold right and spinners were struggling to grip the ball, Earlier, put in to bat on a grassy pitch, the Indians failed to cope with the conditions. The innings was given some respectability by an 81-run partnership between Yuvraj Singh (53) and Mohammad Kaif (46) who steadied the ship from a precarious 71/5. But a NatWest Trophy encore was not on the cards as off spinner Johan Botha made the breakthrough to remove Yuvraj, whose innings had seven hits to the fence. Kaif followed later. Both, he and M.S. Dhoni (14) were guilty of getting out to soft dismissals.

Thanks to curator Prabir Mukherjee’s penchant for a "sporting wicket" the visitors really played in home condition (in terms of the pitch) that their captain Graeme Smith "was expecting" on the eve of the match. South Africa brought in Albie Morkel in place of Makhaya Ntini and Charl Langeveldt for A.B. de Villiers, while India retained the same team that played in Bangalore, using Murali Kartik as super-sub this time. A decent grass covering on the 22 yards ensured the ball swung and moved off the seam much to the delight of the South African quicks spearheaded by Shaun Pollock. Bowling from the High Court end, he wreaked havoc in his first spell (8-3-21-3). Pollock’s 10 overs yielded only 25 runs. Andrew Hall took 3/36, others were miserly as well.

The experiment of opening with Irfan Pathan did not click as he edged one onto the stump without troubling the scorer. It was the third ball in the Indian innings.

Enter the milestone man, on his 357th one-dayer — another world record. Sachin Tendulkar looked determined to set things right, but then Pollock produced a beauty that moved just enough off the seam to take the outside edge. For the third time in as many matches in this series the Little Master was out for two. The pitch had struck.

Rahul Dravid (6) too apparently did not expect an 18-over old ball to do so much and lost his off stump as Langeveldt’s delivery moved away pitching on the middle. The skipper, trying to a do a resurrection job took 32 balls for his six and was booed by the 75,000-strong Sourav-crazy Eden crowd on his way to the dugout.