BANGALORE (India), Nov 19: Irfan Pathan shone with bat and ball as India ended record-chasing South Africa’s unbeaten streak with a six-wicket victory in the second One-day International here on Saturday.

Pathan grabbed three wickets in his first four overs to restrict South Africa to 169-9 and then hit a valuable 37 as India cruised home in the 36th over to level the five-match series 1-1.

Virender Sehwag roared back to form with an unbeaten 77 as the home team delighted a full house of 48,000 at the Chinnaswamy stadium by winning the low-scoring match under lights.

Graeme Smith’s South Africa needed a win to equal Australia’s world record of 21 unbeaten matches in 2003.

But the tourists were caught flat-footed on the turning track, a far cry from the seaming wicket that helped them win the first one-dayer at Hyderabad on Wednesday by five wickets.

Andrew Hall’s 32 was the top score as wickets tumbled at regular intervals after Indian captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and elected to field on his home ground.

After Pathan’s early strikes, the Indian spinners choked the runs on a dry wicket with left-armer Murali Kartik conceding just 16 runs in his 10 overs and Harbhajan Singh and Sehwag finishing with two wickets each.

India also found runs hard to come by against the spot-on South African attack, getting off the mark with the 19th delivery of the innings and managing just seven runs in the first five overs.

Sachin Tendulkar, who equalled Pakistani Wasim Akram’s world record of 356 one-day appearances, scored two runs off 22 balls when he holed out in the deep against Shaun Pollock.

Super-sub Gautam Gambhir hit seven boundaries in his 38 before being run out by Justin Ontong in the 17th over to make India 52-2.

Left-hander Pathan helped Sehwag add 53 for the third wicket, himself taking some of the pressure off with a six over long-off and a four in one over from Andre Nel.

Pathan also hit three more boundaries in the bowler-dominated match before he was run out attempting a single in front of the agile Ontong.

Sehwag and Dravid put on 50 for the fourth wicket to ensure victory for the hosts.

Earlier, Pathan had A.B. de Villiers caught at square leg with the fifth delivery of the match and trapped captain Smith leg-before for three in his third over.

Pathan struck another vital blow in his next over when Jacques Kallis slashed outside the off-stump and was caught behind to make it 20-3.

Hall, who replaced the injured Charl Langeveldt, hit 32 off 43 balls when he was snapped up by Mohammad Kaif at short-leg off Harbhajan’s turning delivery.

South Africa plodded their way to 85-4 by the 27th over when Sehwag had Mark Boucher leg-before for 14 with his first ball.

Sehwag got another success in his next over as Ashwell Prince, who appeared set on 30, holed out to long-on in a bid to step up the scoring.

Justin Kemp (28) and Pollock (29) boosted the total by adding 47 for the seventh wicket.

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA:

A.B. de Villiers c Harbhajan b Pathan 4

G.C. Smith lbw b Pathan 3

A.J. Hall c Kaif b Harbhajan 32

J.H. Kallis c Dhoni b Pathan 2

A.G. Prince c Harbhajan b Sehwag 30

M.V. Boucher lbw b Sehwag 14

J.M. Kemp c R.P. Singh b Harbhajan 28

S.M. Pollock b Yuvraj 29

J. Botha not out 15

M. Ntini b Agarkar 1

EXTRAS (B-1 LB-3 W-4, NB-3) 11

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 169

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-14, 3-20, 4-57, 5-85, 6-96, 7-143, 8-158, 9-169.

DID NOT BAT: A. Nel.

BOWLING: Irfan Pathan 6-1-23–3; Agarkar 7-0-25-1 (1w); R.P. Singh 5-0-22-0; Harbhajan Singh 10-2-33-2 (2w); Kartik 10-4-16-0 (1nb); Sehwag 8-0-29-2 (2nb); Yuvraj Singh 4-0-17-1 (1w).

INDIA:

G. Gambhir run out 38

S.R. Tendulkar c sub b Pollock 2

Irfan Pathan run out 37

V. Sehwag not out 77

R. Dravid c and b Ontong 10

Yuvraj Singh not out 4

EXTRAS (W-2, NB-1) 3

TOTAL (for four wkts, 35.4 overs) 171

FALL OF WKTS: 1-13, 2-52, 3-105, 4-155.

DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Kaif, M.S. Dhoni, A.B. Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, R.P. Singh.

BOWLING: Pollock 6-3-10–1; Ntini 8-1-32-0 (1w); Nel 5-0-31-0 (1w); Botha 8-1-47-0 (1nb); Hall 6-0-23-0; Ontong 2.4-0-28-1.

UMPIRES: A.V. Jayaprakash (India) and D.J. Harper (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: K. Hariharan (India).

MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).

SUBSTITUTIONS: India – G. Gambhir replaced M. Kartik at start of India’s innings; South Africa – J.L. Ontong replaced A.B. de Villiers at start of India’s innings.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Irfan Pathan.

NEXT MATCH: At Chennai on Tuesday.—Agencies