Heavy overnight rain wreaked havoc with India’s team plans. The visitors went in with just one spinner on a brown pitch that kept slow and low — but they still managed to keep South Africa to 289/9 in 50 overs essentially through part-timers for the first of the five-match ODI series at Kingsmead here on Wednesday. But the top order collapsed, and India fell a massive 135 runs short of the target.

India were never in the hunt after they lost their first four batsmen for just 43 runs and were ultimately bundled out for 154 in 35.4 overs.

Virat Kohli top-scored for India with a well-made 54 off 70 balls and together with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (25 off 35) added 52 runs for the fifth wicket to take India past the 150-mark.

Apart from Kohli and Dhoni, Suresh Raina was the other notable contributory for India with 32 off 36 balls.

Lonwabo Tsotsobe was the pick of the South African bowlers with figures of four for 31 while pace partners Dale Steyn (2/29) and Morne Morkel (2/12) scalped two wickets apiece.

India's run chase started on a precarious note as Murali Vijay fell in the fourth ball of the innings, lbw to Steyn.

If that was not enough, already carrying a depleted batting line-up in the absence of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, India were dealt a severe blow in the fourth over when Sachin Tendulkar perished, top-edging a Tsotsobe delivery to Steyn at fine leg with the visitors scoreboard reading 13 for two.

India's problems were further compounded when Morkel struck twin blows in the 11th over. Rohit was the first of Morkel's victim, caught by wicket-keeper de Villiers in the first ball of the 11th over but the batsman felt otherwise and left the ground dejected at umpire Simon Taufel's decision.

Much was expected from new man in Yuvraj Singh but he too failed to live up to his reputation as he departed three balls later, nicking another to de Villiers off Morkel.

Soon after arriving at the pitch, Dhoni tried to force his way out of the trouble with some attacking shots but he too found the going tough against the disciplined Protea attack.

India's struggle can be gauged from the fact that they found the fence only twice in the first 15 overs.

Kohli and Dhoni then played sensible cricket with ones and twos to steady the ship before Kohli opened up cloberring Joahn Botha for a straight six and a four off back-to-back deliveries in the 22nd over.

Inspired by his junior team-mate's strokeplay, Dhoni then broke his shackles with a boundary off Botha to pile up 15 runs of the 22nd over.

But just when it seemed India were slowly and steadily getting back into the match, Dhoni fell victim to an unlucky run out. The Indian skipper was caught off guard when Wayne Parnell got a finger tip to a well-timed Kohli straight drive, which crashed into the stumps at the bowler's end to draw curtains on the dangerous-looking partnership.

With the asking rate hovering up, Suresh Raina tried to relieve the pressure with a six off Botha but going for one too many he almost lost his wicket. He top-edged a slog sweep that fell in between a diving a David Miller and Parnell.

Smith's decision to call back Steyn into the attack in the 30th over struck gold when the pacer had Kohli caught by the Protea skipper himself in the mid-wicket but not before the right-hander scored his fifty during which he struck two fours and a lone six.

Then Harbhajan did little help to his side's cause departing for a duck, bowled by Parnell.

And once Raina departed, caught by Coil Ingram of Tsotsobe, victory was just a formality for the home team.

Earlier, South Africa rode on a frenetic start, courtesy Hashim Amla’s 50 off 36 balls, before AB de Villiers (69-ball 76) and Jean-Paul Duminy (73 from 89 balls) added 131 runs for the fourth wicket. However, part-time spinners Rohit Sharma (2/30), Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina (1/31) came to India’s aid to stem the flow of runs and picked up quick wickets at crucial times to keep the score under 300.

Dhoni, expecting the pacers to have more help after overnight rain, was in for a rude shock when his best ODI bowler in recent times, Ashish Nehra leaked runs like a broken pipe in the initial overs. He tried as many as seven bowlers in the period between 20th over to 36th overs, but it was in the later stages that the spinners got India back into the game.

From 244/6 in 42 overs, South Africa lost the last five wickets for the addition of just 45 runs. In the middle overs, after spending a little while consolidating the innings, de Villiers and Duminy took the batting powerplay and made full use of the five overs scoring 45 runs. Nehra suffered at their hands and went for 61 in six overs.

Dhoni had no option but to turn to Rohit and Raina to make up for Nehra’s overs and the pair did more than what was expected. Rohit dismissed both de Villiers and Duminy in the space of seven overs while Raina got rid of David Miller (9). Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan then returned at the death to ensure South Africa did not get any free runs and Bhajji dismissed Johan Botha to further hurt the Proteas.

Zaheer continued to be India’s best bowler and picked up two wickets at the end to give India a fighting chance of chasing down the target. India did not have the best of starts after Graeme Smith elected to bat. With Zaheer bowling well at the other end, Amla decided to go after Nehra and pulled off almost every attacking shot he attempted. Nehra bowled length balls that did nothing off the pitch. Munaf Patel was much better, benefiting from keeping the ball short of a driving length.

South Africa’s 50 came in just 40 balls and the platform was set for a good total. The Proteas’ plans were first undone by Munaf before the spinners brought India back. The right-arm pacer bowled just short of good length and got the wickets of Amla and Colin Ingram as they attempted to dominate the pacer.