Kohli the key as South Africa take charge

25 overs India 96 for 3 (Kohli 51*, Raina 18*) need another 170 runs to beat South Africa 265 for 7 (Duminy 71*, Amla 65, Yuvraj 3-34)

Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel may be the big guns of the South African pace attack but once again it was Lonwabo Tsotsobe who caused the damage, removing both Indian openers cheaply to leave the visitors in big trouble in their chase of 266 on a sluggish pitch in Port Elizabeth.

Rohit Sharma continued to look out of his depth, chasing and missing the first two deliveries from Tsotsobe, both of which angled away. On the third he connected, but could only carve it to JP Duminy at backward point to fall for 1.

In contrast, the other opener Parthiv Patel, who has had only one net session to adapt to South African conditions after flying in as a replacement for Sachin Tendulkar, middled nearly every ball he faced, including an authoritative pull off a short ball from Steyn. Still, India struggled to get going against an accurate South African pace attack, and when Parthiv missed a fuller one from Tsotsobe to be lbw for 11, they were only 32 for 2.

Virat Kohli was also in good touch, and he carried on to a half-century to keep India hoping. He started with a couple of classy extra-cover drives but got tied down by the quicks, and it wasn't till the amiable left-arm spin of Robin Peterson came on that he opened out again, by when the required rate had climbed to 6.5

Yuvraj Singh played a couple of breath-taking shots before falling to a superb, diving catch from Graeme Smith off an attempted paddle-sweep. Suresh Raina didn't look particularly comfortable during his stay, but managed to survive the spinners and provide support to Kohli. Still, it was South Africa who were clearly in control with a quarter of the match to play.

50 overs South Africa 265 for 7 (Duminy 71*, Amla 65, Yuvraj 3-34) against India

Yuvraj Singh struck thrice but South Africa managed a competitive score on a slow pitch © AFP

Contrasting half-centuries from Hashim Amla and JP Duminy either side of some headless-chicken running and constricting bowling from India's part-time spinners hauled South Africa to what should prove a tough target on a slow pitch in Port Elizabeth. The home side was coasting along at 106 for 1 in the 20th over as Amla returned to his awesome run-scoring form, but lost four wickets for 12 to be in serious trouble. But Duminy orchestrated a recovery that revived South Africa's chances of keeping the series alive till the final one-dayer on Sunday.

On a blustery day, South Africa's openers survived a testing new-ball spell on a track where stroke-making wasn't easy as the ball was stopping on the batsmen. Amla took his time assessing the pitch in the early overs, but soon unfurled his full range of strokes to pick up plenty of boundaries. Zaheer Khan was punched past backward point and later pulled to midwicket, Munaf Patel was crunched past mid-off while Ashish Nehra was caressed past extra cover.

Harbhajan Singh has had a good series so far but wasn't at his best today, straying onto the pads, and Amla capitalised by working him through the gaps in the leg side. A slash to third man off Yuvraj Singh brought Amla his 12th half-century, during which he broke Zaheer Abbas' 28-year record for the fastest man to make 2000 ODI runs.

While Amla was at ease, Graeme Smith's struggles from Cape Town continued. On several occasions, he managed to avoid nicking the quicks, much to their frustration, and he perished trying one of his patented flat-batted swats, miscueing it to Harbhajan at mid-off.

Morne van Wyk, a surprise pick in South Africa's World Cup squad who was playing his first one-dayer in more than three years, proved a more solid partner to Amla, picking off the singles to hand his in-form partner most of the strike. Yuvraj Singh and the other part-timers were getting the ball to turn, though it was slow spin, but one of those deliveries moved enough to take the outside edge of van Wyk's bat to fly to first slip.

South Africa were 106 for 2, but with Amla scoring effortlessly there was little concern. That changed in the next over, when a mistimed pull from Amla trickled towards short fine leg, just outside the inner circle. Amla went for a suicidal second run and it ended in suicide, as he was caught well short.

The worries increased when Yuvraj prised out another big wicket in the next over. AB de Villiers was adjudged caught behind but though it was unclear whether he edged the ball, he can't complain much as he was stumped as well off that delivery. The misery continued when Faf du Plessis, who made such a composed half-century on debut on Tuesday, lost his head and set off for a single though the non-striker Duminy didn't budge. The ball went only as far as Virat Kohli at midwicket, and his throw easily beat a desperate dive from du Plessis.

Duminy and Johan Botha then set about ensuring South Africa built a competitive score. Duminy cut out the Hollywood shots and nudged the ball around for singles, while Botha hit a series of leg-side boundaries, the pick of which was an effortless flick off Zaheer, to keep South Africa afloat. Yuvraj ended that stand at 70, getting his third wicket with a tossed-up delivery that beat Botha's sweep.

Eyebrows were raised when left-arm spinner Robin Peterson was picked ahead of highly rated legspinner Imran Tahir, and though Peterson still has a big role left to play in the match, he has repaid the selectors with an important 31, which ended with him sacrificing his wicket.

Duminy, meanwhile, had brought up his fourth half-century in five innings with a gorgeous off-drive, and to ease South Africa's worries over the performance of their lower-middle order. With four wickets still remaining heading into the batting Powerplay, Duminy helped plunder 45 runs off the final five overs to set India's batsmen a huge challenge. -ESPNcricinfo