Rassie van der Dussen and South Africa captain Temba Bavuma starred as the Proteas claimed a 31-run win over India in the opening ODI at Paarl.
Having won the Test series, South Africa started the three-match ODI series in confident fashion on Wednesday.
It was not all plain sailing, with the hosts 3-68 when Van der Dussen came to the crease in the 18th over but, along with his skipper, the 32-year-old turned in a supreme performance.
After dismissing Janneman Malan (six), the returning Quinton de Kock (27) and Aiden Markram (four), India – under the leadership of stand-in white-ball captain KL Rahul – had their tails up, but Bavuma and Van der Dussen put on a stand of 204 to take the game away from the tourists.
Bavuma's methodical 110 from 143 deliveries – his second ODI 100 – anchored things at one end while Van der Dussen flourished at the other, hitting 129 not-out to propel South Africa to 296-4 from 50 overs.
Rahul (12) edged Markram through to De Kock in the ninth over, but Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, playing for the first time since he was relinquishing the captaincy, seemed to have India well-placed.
Dhawan was bowled by Keshav Maharaj (1-42) for 79, however, and Kohli (51) fell inside three overs with a failed attempt at a sweep, shortly after reaching his half-century.
India needed 141 to win heading into their last 20 overs, yet Shreyas Iyer (17), Rishabh Pant (16), Venkatesh Iyer (two) and Ravichandran Ashwin (seven) lost their wickets in the space of six overs.
The impressive Shardul Thakur reached 50 with the final ball of the day, but his flurry was never enough to trouble South Africa as India finished on 265-8.
Record-setting Van der Dussen dazzles
"In the past, I maybe would have taken 15-20 balls to assess, but the conditions told me I had to get going from fairly early on," said Van der Dussen after his innings.
Getting about it early on is just what Van der Dussen did, sweeping for four off the third ball he faced. It set the tone for an exquisite display that included nine boundaries and four sixes, with his 129 n.o. reached in 96 deliveries, at a strike rate of 134.37.
He now has the best average of any batsman to have scored at least 1,000 ODI runs, with 73.62.
South Africa share the wickets around
Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of India's bowlers with 2-48 from his 10 overs, though he had little support from the rest of the attack.
The Proteas, meanwhile, had Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi and Andile Phehlukwayo each contribute two wickets, albeit Bavuma will be unhappy with some sloppiness that crept in late on, when Thakur was able to tally 16 in the 48th over.
Maxwell leads Australia to opening T20I victory
Glenn Maxwell's impressive 43 powered Australia to a 29-run victory over Pakistan in their opening T20I, which was heavily affected by rain.
Both teams were able to play seven overs each after a thunderstorm in Brisbane delayed proceedings, but it did not affect Australia's performance as they took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Matt Short (7) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (9) were both taken early, but Maxwell's 43 off 19 balls, which included eight boundaries, turned the tide.
Abbas Afridi (2-9) took him and Tim David (10), but with Marcus Stoinis' 21, the damage was already done as Australia finished 93-4.
Pakistan struggled to gain any momentum, with none of their first six batters hitting double figures and Sahibzada Farhan's eight was the best of that group.
The wickets toppled thanks to Xavier Bartlett (3-13) and Nathan Ellis (3-9), and even though Afridi salvaged some pride with his unbeaten 20 to help them reach 64-9, they fell short of their target.
Data Debrief: Home advantage
Despite the shortened nature of the game, Australia still made their mark in some style. They extended their winning run in Brisbane in the process, with this their fifth T20I victory in a row at The Gabba.
On the other side, Babar Azam will have been hoping for a better performance on what was a landmark day for him - he has now made the outright most appearances for Pakistan in T20Is (124), overtaking Shoaib Malik. He also broke the record for the most catches by a fielder in T20Is for Pakistan (52), going past Fakhar Zaman's 50.
Australia 0-0 Saudi Arabia: Visitors denied last-gasp winner on Renard's return
Saudi Arabia had a stoppage-time goal ruled out as Herve Renard's first game since returning as Saudi Arabia head coach ended in a 0-0 draw against Australia in World Cup qualifying.
Sultan Al-Ghannam fired through a sea of bodies in the 94th minute of Thursday's Group C contest at AAMI Park, but the celebrations were cut short due to an offside infringement.
Referee Ali Saeed Al Naqbi had earlier irked the home side by awarding a 12th-minute penalty for an Ahmed Al-Kassar challenge on Mitch Duke, which was then overturned.
Replays showed the incident happened just outside the box, but Australia felt the Saudi keeper should have been sent off and not issued just a yellow card.
Joe Gauci pulled off a fine double save later in the first half, albeit the offside flag later went up, but it was Australia who did more to win the game prior to the late drama.
Brandon Borrello was played clean through on goal and opted to square to Riley McGree, who was unable to help the ball past covering defender Saud Abdulhamid in front of goal.
Data Debrief: Another blank for both sides
Australia entered this game without a goal against Saudi Arabia in 2,716 days - a run that will extend for a little while longer after this latest blank.
The Socceroos have failed to score in three of their five third-round qualifying games, while Saudi Arabia have gone three in a row without netting.
Tony Popovic's side will justifiably argue they did more to win the game, though, finishing with an expected goals value (xG) of 1.31 to Saudi Arabia's 0.05, but the teams remain locked on points in Group C.
Carsley focusing on positives after nine England drop-outs
Lee Carsley wants the England players at his disposal to "make the most of the situation" after nine others dropped out through injury.
Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite on Wednesday became latest player to withdraw from the Nations League games with Greece and Republic of Ireland.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale and Levi Colwill have also dropped out.
England captain Harry Kane has admitted to being unhappy with the large number of withdrawals for interim boss Carsley's final two games in charge.
However, Carsley attempted to put a positive spin on the situation when speaking at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday ahead of facing Greece.
"The focus all camp has been on the players that are here and it's important that we make the most of the situation," he told reporters.
"With the amount of players that have pulled out, it gives other players an opportunity to be here.
"We're really looking forward to the game and it's going to be a tough test for us and the focus has been purely on the players that are here.
"With the amount of pull-outs we've had in the window, historically it's been like that in the past - November has always been a challenging window.
"But the culture that Gareth [Southgate], Steve [Holland] and the rest of the lads created has made it a really positive environment and the players that are here thoroughly deserve to be here."
Grealish was one of the first players to withdraw from the squad, having been called up despite not playing for club side Manchester City since 20 October.
City boss Pep Guardiola questioned England's decision to include Grealish in their squad as he recovers from injury, but Carsley insisted he was justified in doing so.
"The medical teams are constantly talking throughout squad selection, regardless of whether there are games or not," Carsley said.
"We are constantly getting updates. The medical departments have brilliant communication between club and country.
"It was always the case we were going to get the players who were potentially going to miss out in to the assessed. Jack was one of them. He was assessed and sent back and it was as clear as that."
England trail Group B2 leaders Greece by three points with two rounds of fixtures to play, having lost the reverse fixture 2-1 at Wembley last month.
The Three Lions have won on all four of their previous trips to face Greece, doing so by an aggregate score of 9-1 - only against Luxembourg (5/5) do they hold a better 100% win rate away from home.
However, Greece are on the longest active winning run of any European nation in all competitions (five games) and could win six consecutive matches for the first time November 2013.
Carsley, who will step aside for Thomas Tuchel after next week's home match with Republic of Ireland, said: "We're expecting a tough game against Greece and it’s one we have to win.
"But we're really looking forward to it, we've had a good week's training, the players are in good spirits and it's going to be a sell out with a great atmosphere.
"We've had to wait four or five weeks for this, but this next window is so important to us, not just tomorrow but Republic of Ireland as well, so it's a great challenge for us."
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