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Durban - Rising young star Quinton de Kock made 106 from 118 balls, his third career hundred and second successive one following his 135 at the Wanderers last Thursday, while Hashim Amla made exactly 100 in 117 deliveries in the second ODI between the Proteas and India in Durban.
The pair shared 194 together from 35.1 overs, the highest first-wicket stand ever at the venue, after the match had been delayed by 90 minutes due to wet patches in the outfield, which had developed due to the high amount of rain experienced by the city over the past month.
A moment of silence in memory of former president Nelson Mandela, who passed away on Thursday, had preceded play and when the action began the South African openers were on top form.
Looking to seal the series after the 141-run series-opening at the Wanderers, they made a bright start despite losing the toss and being asked to bat first with Amla and De Kock racing to 50 inside overs.
The two continued to plunder the ineffective Indian attack with the latter reaching his 50 in just 57 balls, followed by the century being raised in the 19th over.
Amla followed to his 50 in the same number of balls as the partnership went beyond 150 in the 27th overs -- only the second time ever successive 150 opening partnerships had been reached in back-to-back ODIs.
De Kock then got to his three figures from 112 deliveries, before he looped an attempted sweep off R Ashwin to Rohit Sharma at square leg to end the stand.
De Villiers (three) came down the track to Ravindra Jadeja and was stumped by wicketkeeper MS Dhoni shortly before the 200 was raised with 12.3 overs to go.
Amla, though, continued to bat fluently and went to his 12th career 100 from 116 balls, only to fall next ball when an attempt to cut Mohammed Shami was edged to Dhoni.
David Miller (nought) and Jacques Kallis (10) fell cheaply, before some late hitting by JP Duminy (26), Ryan McLaren (12) and Vernon Philander (14) helped the hosts set 281 to win.
Teams:
South Africa: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wk) Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers (capt), JP Duminy, David Miller, Ryan McLaren, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami.
