Robin Peterson was the unlikely hero as South Africa overcame a series of near misses to record a thrilling victory against India in their World Cup match in Nagpur.
Sachin Tendulkar had earlier scored his 48th century in one day internationals to put the tournament hosts on course to post a daunting total, but their final nine wickets fell for just 29 runs as Dale Steyn ripped through the lower order.
Chasing 297 from 50 overs, the South African pairing of Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis played confidently and kept the scoreboard ticking over to leave them requiring a manageable 157 from their final 20 overs with eight wickets in hand.
The run rate then began to slow and Kallis was then run out while attempting a second run thanks to a superb piece of glove work from MS Dhoni, following an accurate throw from Harbhajan Singh.
Sensing the contest was edging away from them, the South Africans immediately took their batting powerplay and scored 50 quick runs before AB de Villiers was caught on the boundary by Virat Kohli shortly after reaching his half-century.
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Things became worse for Graeme Smith’s side when Jean-Paul Duminy was then stumped by Dhoni off a wide delivery from Singh and Morne van Wyk was quickly trapped leg before wicket by Manuf Patel as India regained control.
With 31 runs needed from the final three overs, the back and forth nature of the contest was symbolised by Johan Botha bludgeoning a four and a six in consecutive balls from Patel, only to then be caught by Suresh Raina, the substitute fielder, when attempting to reach the boundary for a third time.
Dhoni entrusted Zaheer Khan with the penultimate over and his faith was justified when the South Africans managed just five singles from it, leaving them needing 13 runs from six balls with Francois du Plessis, the only recognised batsman left, stranded at the non-striker’s end.
A thick inside edge from the first ball of the final over gave Peterson four fortunate runs, but there was no doubting the powerful six which followed as the spin bowler moved his side towards the finishing line.
As the home supporters fell into a hush, a quick double followed before the spinner put the exclamation point on the victory by smashing a four through the covers to move South Africa ahead of England in group B.
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India, who were unbeaten in the tournament before the match, had earlier opted to take first use of a wicket which has produced more than 1,400 runs in its the previous World Cup matches and should have posted a higher total following the initial onslaught from Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.
Du Plessis, the former Lancashire player, made the initial breakthrough in the 18th over when Sehwag became cramped for room trying to cut a quicker delivery and played on to his leg stump with the score on 142.
After the 37-year-old opener was caught at point by Duminy, Smith was rewarded for his decision to bring Steyn back into the attack as he removed Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan in the next over.
Another bowling change paid immediate dividends for Smith when Kallis had Yuvraj Singh caught by Botha and the middle order capitulation continued when Kohli gave Peterson a simple caught and bowled dismissal in the next over.
As the lower order batted nervously, Steyn returned to the attack and took three more wickets to finish with figures of 5-50 and complete a dramatic turnaround to put his side in position for their third win of the World Cup.