DURBAN, Jan 9: Late replacement Morne van Wyk upstaged the millionaires of the Indian Premier League but couldn’t stop India beating South Africa by 21 runs in the one-off Twenty20 International at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday.

Van Wyk hit the fastest half-century by a South African in a 20-overs international but when he was out for 67 his team-mates subsided on a low, slow pitch.

India, spurred by an innings of 53 off 34 balls by Rohit Sharma, made 168 for six. South Africa, with black icon Makhaya Ntini playing his last international, could only manage 147 for nine.

Van Wyk, 31, who played last for his country three seasons ago, was called up when Test captain Graeme Smith was ruled out by a heel injury. He was the only South African to master the pitch and the Indian bowlers.

Van Wyk went to his half-century off 24 balls. He hit five sixes and five fours before being caught at deep square leg for 67, made off 39 deliveries.

Van Wyk and A.B. de Villiers (14) put on 57 off 29 balls for the third wicket but it was always going to be an uphill struggle after De Villiers was run out by a direct hit from Suresh Raina.

The match marked the last international appearance of South African fast bowler Ntini, who got a rousing reception from a crowd of about 47,000 but conceded 46 runs off four overs without success.

He had the consolation of holding a good catch on the long-on boundary to end Sharma’s innings. Sharma hit five fours and two sixes.

Suresh Raina hit 41 off 23 deliveries before being caught off the last ball of the innings going for a big hit.

Scoreboard INDIA: V. Kohli b Botha    28 M. Vijay c van Wyk b Parnell    14 R.G. Sharma c Ntini b Duminy    53 Yuvraj Singh run out    12 Y.K. Pathan b Theron    6 S.K. Raina c Miller b Theron    41 M.S. Dhoni not out    10 EXTRAS (LB-1, W-3)    4 TOTAL (for six wkts, 20 overs)    168 FALL OF WKTS: 1-18, 2-67, 3-109, 4-110, 5-136, 6-168. DID NOT BAT: R. Ashwin, P. Kumar, A. Nehra, M.M. Patel. BOWLING: Parnell 4-0-25-1 (1w); Ntini 4-0-46-0; Theron 4-0-39-2 (1w); Peterson 3-0-20-0 (1w); Botha 3-0-25-1; Duminy 2-0-12-1. SOUTH AFRICA: M.N. van Wyk c Nehra b Kumar    67 H.M. Amla b Nehra    1 C.A. Ingram c Kumar b Patel    2 A.B. de Villiers run out J.P. Duminy lbw b Yuvraj    0 D.A. Miller lbw b Pathan    10 J. Botha c Sharma b Nehra    25 R.J. Peterson c Kohli b Pathan    2 W.D. Parnell c Pathan b Ashwin    14 R. Theron not out    1 M. Ntini not out    1 EXTRAS (B-4, LB-3, W-3)    10 TOTAL (for nine wkts, 20 overs)    147 FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-31, 3-88, 4-89, 5-93, 6-108, 7-120, 8-141 , 9-144. BOWLING: Kumar 3-0-17-1 (1w); Nehra 4-0-22-2; Patel 2-0-26-1; Ashwin 4-0-33-1 (2w); Yuvraj Singh 4-0-20-1; Pathan 3-0-22-2. RESULT: India won by 21 runs. UMPIRES: M. Erasmus and B.G. Jerling (both South Africa). TV UMPIRE: J.D. Cloete (South Africa). MATCH REFEREE: B.C. Broad (England). MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Rohit Sharma.—AFP