South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first.
Virender Sehwag captained India after Rahul Dravid was ruled out for rest of the series following an injury. South Africa recovered from a bad start to reach 243 at the end of 50 overs. Gibbs remained unbeaten on 93 while Kallis and Pollock chipped in with 49 and 37 respectively. Anil Kumble was the best bowler for India on the day picking up 2 wickets for 42 runs. Chasing 244 under lights, India got off to a steady start losing their first wicket in the 6th over with 23 runs on the board. Wickets fell at regular intervals and this meant that India never had a chance of overhauling the South African score. Irfan Pathan was the pick of the batsmen scoring 47 runs.
India put on another abysmal batting performance scoring just 200 off the allocated 50 overs. Sachin Tendulkar topscored for the visitors with a sedate 55 off 97 balls. Mongia and Dhoni chipped in with useful 40's.
South Africa reached the target in just 31.2 overs. Pollock was named Man of the Match for his bowling performance which included 4 maidens and 2 wickets.
With this victory, South Africa wrapped up the series 4–0 with the first game washed out.
India pulled off its first victory of the tour with a close Twenty20 win after Dinesh Karthik steered India towards victory with a controlled innings by Twenty20 standards. This was India's first Twenty20 International ever.
Test Series
Tour Match: Rest of South Africa v India (7–10 December)
Note: during the isolation of South Africa from international cricket between 1970 and 1991, there were seven unofficial tours (italicised below) by various teams, collectively known as the South African rebel tours.
