CHENNAI, March 29: A spirited fightback by South Africa after Virender Sehwag’s brutal assault the previous day left the first cricket Test against India headed for a draw on Saturday.

India, resuming at the overnight 468-1 in reply to South Africa’s first innings total of 540, failed to maintain the momentum and were all out for 627 by tea on the fourth day.

The tourists easily wiped out the 87-run deficit and closed the day at 131-1 in their second knock with opener Neil McKenzie following his 94 in the first innings with an unbeaten 59.

Hashim Amla, the first innings hero with 159, was the other batsman at the crease on a fluent 35.

Sehwag, who resumed at his overnight score of 309, was dismissed for 319 within the first 30 minutes of play and only Rahul Dravid’s 111 — his first century in Chennai — ensured India a first innings lead.

Dravid reached the 10,000-run mark on way to his 25th Test century, but the only other notable contribution for the Indians was Vangipurappu Laxman’s 39.

South African fast bowler Dale Steyn claimed four of the last five wickets to finish with 4-103. Left-arm spinner Paul Harris was the most expensive with 3-203, while Makhaya Ntini ended with 3-128.

Some 35,000 home fans, who were hoping Sehwag would surpass West Indian Brian Lara’s world record score of 400 not out, were silenced soon after the start of the day’s play.

Sehwag added 10 runs to his overnight score when he edged a drive off Ntini into the safe hands of McKenzie at first slip.

Sehwag received a thunderous applause from the crowd and team-mates as he returned after an epic nine-hour effort that contained 43 boundaries and five sixes in the fastest recorded triple century in history.

Ntini struck again in his next over, this time forcing star batsman Sachin Tendulkar to edge a catch to Jacques Kallis at first slip before he had scored.

Dravid put on 45 for the fourth wicket with Saurav Ganguly and 47 for the fifth with Laxman before being caught in the slips off Ntini after lunch.

Left-hander Ganguly made 24 when an intended slash off Harris took a thin edge to wicket-keeper Mark Boucher.

Dravid, playing his 120th match, became the sixth batsman in history to surpass 10,000 Test runs when he reached 80 with a single to mid-wicket off Morne Morkel.

The elite club, led by Lara, includes three Indians, Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar and Dravid, and two Australians, Allan Border and Steve Waugh.

Dravid, Lara and Tendulkar are the only ones to have scored more than 10,000 runs in both Test and one-day cricket.

Mahendra Dhoni, who was expected to boost the run-rate after Sehwag’s dismissal, plodded for 33 deliveries to make 16 when he was caught behind to give Steyn his first wicket in the match.

Steyn then bowled Indian captain Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Rudra Pratap Singh to hasten the end of the innings.

Laxman was the last man out, giving Harris a return catch after making 39.

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings) 540 (H.M. Amla 159, N.D. McKenzie 94, G.C. Smith 73, M.V. Boucher 70; Harbhajan Singh 5-164).

INDIA (1st Innings, overnight 468-1):

Wasim Jaffer c Kallis b Harris 73

V. Sehwag c McKenzie b Ntini 319

R. Dravid c Kallis b Ntini 111

S.R. Tendulkar c Kallis b Ntini 0

S.C. Ganguly c Boucher b Harris 24

V.V.S. Laxman c and b Harris 39

M.S. Dhoni c Boucher b Steyn 16

A. Kumble b Steyn 3

Harbhajan Singh b Steyn 0

R.P. Singh b Steyn 0

S. Sreesanth not out 4

EXTRAS (B-20, LB-10, W-4, NB-4) 38

TOTAL (all out, 166.1 overs) 627

FALL OF WKTS: 1-213, 2-481, 3-481, 4-526, 5-573, 6-598, 7-610, 8-610, 9-612.

BOWLING: Steyn 32-3-103-4; Ntini 28-3-128-3; Morkel 25-4-76-0 (2nb, 1w); Harris 53.1-6-203-3 (2nb, 2w); Kallis 14-0-71-0; Prince 3-0-16-0.

SOUTH AFRICA (2nd Innings):

N.D. McKenzie not out 59

G.C. Smith lbw b Harbhajan 35

H.M. Amla not out 35

EXTRAS (LB-2) 2

TOTAL (for one wkt, 33 overs) 131

FALL OF WKT: 1-53.

BOWLING (to-date): Sreesanth 6-0-28-0; R.P. Singh 4-0-27-0; Harbhajan Singh 10-1-40-1; Ganguly 2-1-1-0; Kumble 10-0-27-0; Sehwag 1-0-6-0.—AFP