An unbeaten 98 by Ashwell Prince formed the basis of South Africa's 257 for eight as honours ended even on the day one of the second Test match against India in Durban.
Prince was ably supported with half-centuries by Herschelle Gibbs and Mark Boucher as the Proteas ended the day in a jittery position after a late fight back from the Indians.
Resuming the final session on 165 for four, Prince and Boucher added exactly 100 for the fifth wicket before the South African wicketkeeper played down the wrong line to a Shanthakumaran Sreesanth delivery and was clean bowled for 53.
That dismissal sparked an Indian revival and Shaun Pollock was next to follow, driving hard at a Vikram Singh delivery but only succeeded in finding Virender Sehwag at point for 11.
Anil Kumble then got into the action, first trapping Andrew Hall - in the team in place of the injured Jacques Kallis - leg before wicket for a duck, before bowling Andre Nel three balls later, also without scoring.
When bad light caused play to be called off for the day, Prince was left two short of his century with debutant Morne Morkel - in the team for the injured Dale Steyn - yet to get off the mark.
Earlier in the day, having won the toss and electing to bat, Proteas captain Graeme Smith was soon back in the pavilion.
Smith was dismissed for just five when Zaheer Khan tempted him to try and pull a short delivery, which he ended up top-edging to Sachin Tendulkar at first slip.
South Africa's changed batting order, prompted by their abysmal performance at the Wanderers in the first Test defeat, saw AB de Villiers promoted alongside Smith.
He lost another partner when the penetrative Zaheer again showed his class by trapping Hashim Amla lbw for one to leave the South Africans stuttering at 13 for two.
Next to go was De Villiers, who tried to drive an away swinger from Sreesanth but managed only to edge to Tendulkar at first slip.
At that stage, the home team was in deep trouble at 28 for three.
That brought together Gibbs and Prince, who proceeded to steady the ship for the Proteas, taking them to lunch at 67 for three.
After the break, they began the recovery putting on 94 for the fourth wicket with the aggressive Gibbs playing plenty of shots on his way to 63 before throwing away his wicket.
He hit 13 fours in his 88 ball knock before edging an extravagant pull off Sreesanth to wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni.
Boucher and Prince then took the visitors to tea unscathed.
Sreesanth with three for 74 was the most successful bowler for India while Zaheer (two for 61) and Kumble (two for 48) were also impressive.
Meanwhile, Cricket South Africa has announced that Shaun Pollock will be honoured with a presentation during the tea break on day two for his 400th Test wicket milestone achieved in the first Test at the Wanderers.
