Marco Jansen, Lutho Sipamla and Anrich Nortje claimed three wickets apiece as South Africa A narrowly edged out India A by four runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-truncated match four of their one-day series in Trivandrum on Thursday.

With weather playing a major role on Wednesday, the game was pushed into a reserve day with the hosts resuming on 56-1 in 7.4 overs, pursuing a target of 193 in 25 overs.

They were cruising to victory at 161-3, and a potential 4-0 lead, thanks to Shikhar Dhawan’s 52 off 43 balls (8 fours), before the trio struck to restrict the Indians to 188-9.

It meant that the tourists were off the mark in the five-match sequence, having already lost the series following three defeats from the opening three games at the same venue in Kerala state.

The South Africans will take plenty of heart from this showing, which was well led by man-of-the-match Nortje, who claimed 3-36, as well as rookie Jansen (3-25) and Sipamla (3-55).

It was one-way traffic early on in favour of the Asians as Dhawan and Prashant Chopra (26) extended their overnight partnership to 79 for the second wicket, before Sipamla struck to dismiss the latter.

After senior India star Dhawan was taken out by Jansen 18 runs later, Shivam Dube (31) and captain Shreyas Iyer (26) kept the home side in control with a stand worth 51 for the fourth wicket.

However, with India needing just 32 from the final five overs, they lost their way thanks to good bowling by the three South African speedsters.

Both batsmen were removed by Nortje in the same 21st over, before Sipamla landed a double blow in the next over with the hosts falling from 161-3 to 164-7.

Teenager Jansen, who recorded his career-best List A figures, then completed the job with two wickets in two balls in the 24th over, handing the visitors a first victory. The series concludes at the same Greenfield International Stadium on Friday.

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