Steyn took five for 22 as India were bowled out for 218 in reply to the Rest's 255 for eight. Only Indian captain Rahul Dravid, who made 79, stood firm against Steyn's onslaught.

Steyn, 23, bowled at speeds of up to 150kmh as he ripped through the Indian batting in a display which may force the South African selectors to revise their decision to earmark him for Test matches only.

For the Indians, it was anything but an ideal warm-up for the start of a five-match one-day international series against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg Sunday.

"There are areas where we can get better," admitted Dravid.

"We're a pretty young side. Some of the young batsmen and bowlers are learning. It's not an easy place to play cricket, especially if you come straight from India. It is just the start of the tour and there will be better performances as the tour goes on."

The Rest captain Ashwell Prince said: "We wanted to give them a tough game. They (India) have found it tough touring here in the past and we wanted to make sure we didn't give them any freebies early in the tour."

Steyn struck in his second over when Indian star Sachin Tendulkar cut a short ball straight to backward point, then trapped Tendulkar's opening partner, Wassim Jaffer, caught at second slip two balls later.

Jaffer played in place of Virender Sehwag who needed stitches in a hand after misjudging a catch in fielding practice shortly before the game.

Steyn's pace was too much for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina, two of India's younger players, who he dismissed in his second spell. He softened up Dhoni with a short ball then trapped the wicketkeeper-batsman leg before with a fuller delivery before the left-handed Raina could only fend a lifting delivery to short leg.

In his final spell, Steyn bowled Dravid, who was ninth man out after a solid 99-ball innings.

Steyn has played in only four one-day internationals and was dropped after the tour of Australia last season because he was too expensive. He conceded only 12 runs off the bat Thursday with seven wides and three no-balls making up the rest of the runs against him.

Apart from Dravid's innings, there was encouragement for the Indians in the form of bowlers Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan in their returns to the country's one-day team.

Kumble and Khan, both recalled after long spells out of the one-day side, were easily the most impressive Indian bowlers.

Left-arm seamer Zhan, whose most recent one-day international was against Pakistan in February, took three for 44 in ten overs.

Veteran leg-spinner Kumble, out of one-day international cricket since playing for Asia against Africa in South Africa in August 2005, took two for 31 in ten overs.

Kumble took two wickets with successive balls as the Rest slipped to 116 for six in the 31st over before left-handers Jacques Rudolph (72 not out) and Albie Morkel (57) lashed 96 off 100 balls for the seventh wicket.

When Morkel skied a catch off Khan, Rudolph carried on hitting out as another 43 runs were scored off the remaining 19 balls of the innings.

Morkel had been due to be twelfth man for the Rest but got his chance to play when it was agreed before the match that both sides could use 12 players, although only 11 could bat or be on the field at any time.

The decision enabled the Indians to field an extra player to get match practice ahead of the one-day international series. It meant that the match would not have official List A limited overs status -- and also enabled the home side to finish with a much better total than might have been the case.

The Indian bowlers took some heavy punishment in the closing overs with Munaf Patel conceding 36 runs off his last two overs and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth being hit for 44 off his last four.

Steyn ensured that India were never in with a realistic chance of winning, although Dravid and Irfan Pathan (34) gave them some hope with a seventh wicket stand of 84.