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Chennai, India: India's Rahul Dravid struck 111 for his 25th Test hundred and Virender Sehwag delivered 319 runs before South Africa staged a splendid fightback on the fourth day of the first Test yesterday.
Fast bowler Dale Steyn grabbed four of the last five wickets to bowl out India for 627 at tea in reply to South Africa's 540 all out.
At the close, the tourists were 131 for one, 44 runs ahead with opener Neil McKenzie on 59 and Hashim Amla, top-scorer with 159 in the first innings, 35 not out, pushing the game towards a draw.
Sehwag and Dravid took centre stage for their individual efforts before the in-form Steyn ripped through the Indian tail to restrict their first-innings lead to 87 runs.
Fell short
India lost the last five wickets for 29 runs, with Steyn taking 4-103.
Dravid hit 15 fours on his way to becoming the sixth batsman to tally 10,000 Test runs, the third Indian to do so after Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar.
The 35-year-old, playing in his 120th Test, emulated West Indian Brian Lara, Australians Allan Border and Steve Waugh and his two compatriots before completing his century after lunch. Sehwag bettered his own Indian record (309) for the highest Test score but fell short in his bid to surpass Lara's world record of 400 not out.
South Africa, 1st innings: 540.
India, 1st innings:
(Overnight: 468 for one)
Wasim Jaffer c Kallis b Harris 73
Virender Sehwag c McKenzie b Ntini 319
Rahul Dravid c Kallis b Ntini 111
Sachin Tendulkar c Kallis b Ntini 0
Sourav Ganguly c Boucher b Harris 24
V.V.S. Laxman c and b Harris 39
Mahendra Dhoni c Boucher b Steyn 16
Anil Kumble b Steyn 3
Harbhajan Singh b Steyn 0
Rudra Pratap Singh b Steyn 0
Shantakumaran Sreesanth not out 4
Extras: (20b, 10lb, 4nb, 4w) 38
Total: (all out) 627
Overs: 155.1. Batting time: 760 minutes.
Fall of wickets: 1-213, 2-481, 3-481, 4-526, 5-573, 6-598, 7-610, 8-610, 9-612, 10-627.
Bowling: Dale Steyn 32-3-103-4, Makhaya Ntini 28-3-128-3, Morne Morkel 25-4-76-0 (2nb, 1w), Paul Harris 53.1-6-203-3 (2nb, 2w), Jacques Kallis 14-0-71-0, Ashwell Prince 3-0-16-0 (1w).
South Africa, 2nd innings:
Neil McKenzie not out 59
Graeme Smith lbw b Harbhajan 35
Hashim Amla not out 35
Extras: (2lb) 2
Total: (for 1 wicket) 131
Overs: 33. Batting time: 147 minutes.
Fall of wicket: 1-53.
Still to bat: Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, A.B. de Villiers, Mark Boucher, Morne Morkel, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini.
Bowling: Shantakumaran Sreesanth 6-0-28-0, Rudra Pratap Singh 4-0-27-0, Harbhajan Singh 10-1-40-1, Sourav Ganguly 2-1-1-0, Anil Kumble 10-0-27-0, Virender Sehwag 1-0-6-0.
Toss: South Africa.
Umpires: Asad Rauf, Pakistan, and Tony Hill, New Zealand.
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