"We are a team that means business," said Smith after India won the second one-dayer by six wickets at the Chinaswamy Stadium here on Saturday night to level the five-match series 1-1.

Man-of-the-match Irfan 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 of the day-night game.

South Africa, who needed a win to equal Australia's world record of 21 unbeaten matches in 2003, were caught flat-footed on the turning track, a far cry from the seaming wicket that helped the tourists win the first one-dayer at Hyderabad on Wednesday.

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 Virender Sehwag finishing with two wickets each.

Smith said losing the toss proved crucial for his team's defeat.

"Having lost the match, it will look like we're making excuses," he said.

"But I think the toss played a much bigger role than we had expected. The pitch was dry, the ball was holding, and it was difficult to hit through the line.

"It was very helpful to their spinners, and I thought it was a gutsy effort to get to 170. When we bowled, the ball went soft after six or seven overs, and we lost that sting.

"I don't think India would have got much more than 200 if they had batted first, and batting second I would have backed us to win."