McLaren proved instrumental in breaking a 127-run opening wicket partnership between Rohit (65) and Shikhar Dhawan when the former was caught by Robin Peterson at deep square leg.
While Rohit completed his half-century with 8 boundaries and a lone six to his credit, Dhawan hit 6 boundaries in his flamboyant innings that helped India cross 100 in the 16th over.
The duo got off to a cautious start but soon found themselves amongst the shots that helped India cruise.
This is India's first limited-overs international outside the subcontinent in the last 15 months, though the twin victories in the warm-up matches against Sri Lanka in Birmingham and Australia in Cardiff would have given them a fair idea of the conditions.
Adding some mystery are the new ICC rules in the 50-over format, like two new balls that can be taken, no more than four fielders outside the 30-yard circle when a spinner is in attack, two bouncers per over and powerplays to be completed before 40th over.
India go into the tournament as the top-ranked one-day side, but have lost five of their last seven internationals against South Africa, including a three-wicket defeat in the World Cup in Nagpur.
With every game a virtual shootout, both the former winners will be eager to make a head start in the tournament which is being held for the last time.
With two out of the four battle-hardened teams qualifying for the semifinals, all matches in group B are expected to be closely-fought affairs.
Teams :
India : MS Dhoni (Capt. & wk), R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav.
South Africa : AB de Villiers (Capt. & wk), Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Rory Kleinveldt, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Robin Peterson, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Colin Ingram.
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