India won a thriller against South Africa to lead the ODI series 1-0. In a nerve-racking encounter India won the match by just one run to prevail over the Proteas.

Earlier, India lost a very important toss and were asked to bat first. India got of to a shaky start as  Sachin got runout scoring just 5 runs. Later, thanks to good batting displays by Shehwag and the middle order, India managed to put up a decent total of 298 runs on the board.

South Africa got off to a careful start to chase the huge target. The openers looked good until Praveen Kumar struck taking the wicket of Loots Bosman. South Africa were later struggling as they lost their third wicket at 109 runs. India struck at regular intervals making life difficult for the Proteas. The Indians looked like having the match in their pockets when they reduced South Africa to 225 for 8 and just when every one thought the match is getting over, Wayne Parnell and Dale Steyn astonished everyone with their batting. They set up a partnership of 55 runs of just 32 balls and bought the match to a point where it could be anyone’s game.

South Africa required just 10 runs in the last over. Praveen Kumar took charge and India finally managed to beat the South Africans by 1 run.