India set South Africa 177 to win in the Twenty20 World Cup final at the Kensington Oval on Saturday.
Electing to bat, the 2007 champions overcame a top-order meltdown to post a competitive 176-7 in a clash between the two unbeaten sides at the tournament.
Virat Kohli (76) struck his first fifty of this World Cup and Axar Patel smashed 47 for India.
Anrich Nortje and Keshav Maharaj claimed two wickets apiece for South Africa.
The summit clash features the 20-team tournament's two unbeaten sides both of which fielded unchanged sides for the match.
India won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2007 but are without a global title since 2013.
South Africa have made the final of a World Cup in any format for the first time.Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (captain), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi
