After Jacques Kallis forced a four-wicket defeat down Team India's throat, Rahul Dravid doffed his hat at his opposite number, saying the South African captain made all the difference in the first of the three-one dayers between the tow teams in Belfast on Tuesday.
"Kallis made all the difference. If you are playing against South Africa, you have to get his wicket. He stays there till the end and often makes the difference between two teams," Dravid said after the match.
Apart from hitting a sparkling, unbeaten 116-ball knock of 91, Kallis also grabbed two wickets and took two catches to be adjudged the Man of the Match.
Dravid also felt that his side fell 20 runs short in the match.
"We lost couple of wickets early in the innings and in the end, felt some 20 runs short. Me and Sachin got a good partnership but another 15-20 runs would have helped," he said.
With more than half the side down with a cold bug, a depleted Team India took to the field with two spinners -- Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla -- while vice captain M S Dhoni was not fit enough for the match.
"(With so many players down with cold and flu) it was not easy for us and certainly not the ideal preparation. But still I would say that the boys fought hard."
The Indian skipper also had a word of praise for his spinners.
"We gave opportunity to couple of spinners and they did not let us down. Both Chawla and Powar did well. They took wickets in the middle overs and put pressure on them. But, in the end, Kallis made the difference."
Kallis, meanwhile, was not ready to celebrate yet even though he felt winning the first match would give the side some advantage in the three-match series.
"It's definitely an advantage as we go 1-0 up. But two more matches are coming up and it should be interesting," he said.
Kallis praised openers AB de Villiers and Morne van Wyk, who put up a 56-run stand to give the side a decent start.
"They gave us a good start. Unfortunately, we lost a few wickets in the middle overs but kept advancing towards the total.
"It was a difficult track and I knew I had to be careful to pace my innings," he said.
India and South Africa lock horn again in the second one-dayer at the same venue on Friday