Virender Sehwag edged a Faf du Plessis delivery onto his stumps as India lost their first wicket with 142 runs on the board in their World Cup clash at the VCA stadium in Nagpur on Saturday.
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Sehwag hit 12 fours in his swashbuckling knock of 73 off 66 balls.
Sehwag's 44-ball half-century and Sachin Tendulkar's 33-ball fifty gave India a start to dream off.
Tendulkar's 94th ODI fifty was studded with five fours and a six. One four by Tendulkar that stood out was a straight drive that went just under the bowler Morne Morkel.
Sehwag and Tendulkar brought up the Indian 100 in 11.4 overs.
Sehwag's 37th ODI fifty was studded with 10 hits to the fence.
With a fiery start, Sehwag and Tendulkar took India to 87/0 in 10 overs.
This is the highest score so far in the mandatory batting Powerplay in this World Cup and it consisted of 12 fours and a six. That six was hit by Tendulkar off Dale Steyn as the Master rocked on the back foot and hooked the ball over fine leg - a shot he brought out of his repertoire after many years.
Sehwag and Tendulkar brought up the Indian 50 in the seventh over.
Sehwag started from the word go hitting the first delivery of the match from Steyn to the mid-wicket fence. Thus Sehwag has started his five World Cup innings so far by slamming boundaries off the very first ball he faced in each innings.
Earlier, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat.
India have brought in Munaf Patel in place of Piyush Chawla and South Africa have replaced the injured Imran Tahir by Johan Botha.
South African captain Graeme Smith said he would have batted as well but now they would look to restrict India. He added that the atmosphere is thrilling and they would like to play well.
Dhoni said the wicket is good for batting but also added it has to offer something for the fast bowlers as well. He added it's good to be unbeaten but that's history and they would take confidence from it and look to carry momentum.
Jamtha is a very impressive cricket ground, outfield is lush green but the base is quite hard and the ball will travel quickly. The dimensions of the ground are such, that lots of cuts and pulls are expected in the game. Regarding the playing area, it's a very good surface, hard, well rolled in but not enough dry patches to assist spinners and last for the entire 100 overs.
It is pretty warm out there with temperature expected to touch 37 degrees Celsius.
Teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel.
South Africa: Graeme Smith (Capt.), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Morne van Wyk, Robin Peterson, Johan Botha, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn.
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