back 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 was 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 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 Venkatsai 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 thunderous applause from the crowd and teammates as he returned after an epic nine-hour effort that contained 43 boundaries and five sixes in the fastest recorded triple century in history. Dravid put on 45 for the fourth wicket with Sourav Ganguly and 47 for the fifth with Laxman before being caught in the slips off Ntini after lunch. 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. Left-hander Ganguly made 24 when an intended slash off Harris took a thin edge to wicketkeeper 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. MS Dhoni plodded for 33 deliveries to make 16 when he was caught behind to give Steyn his first wicket in the match. Scoreboard South Africa (1st innings) 540 India (1st innings) Jaffer c Kallis b Harris 73 Sehwag c McKenzie b Ntini 319 Dravid c Kallis b Ntini 111 Tendulkar c Kallis b Ntini 00 Ganguly c Boucher b Harris 24 Laxman c and b Harris 39 Dhoni c Boucher b Steyn 16 Kumble b Steyn 03 Harbhajan b Steyn 00 R.P. Singh b Steyn 00 Sreesanth not out 04 Extras: (b20, lb10, w4, nb4) 38 Total: (155.1 overs) 627 Falls: 1-213 (Jaffer), 2-481 (Sehwag), 3-481 (Tendulkar), 4-526 (Ganguly), 5-573 (Dravid), 6-598 (Dhoni), 7-610 (Kumble), 8-610 (H. Singh), 9-612 (R.P. Singh), 10-627 (Laxman). Bowling: Steyn 32-3-103-4, Ntini 28-3-128-3, Morkel 25-4-76-0 (nb2, w1), Harris 53.1-6-203-3 (w2, nb2), Kallis 14-0-71-0, Prince 3-0-16-0. South Africa (2nd innings) McKenzie not out 59 Smith lbw b Harbhajan 35 Amla not out 35 Extras: (lb2) 02 Total (for 1, 33 overs) 131 Falls: 1-53 (Smith). Bowling: Sreesanth 6-0-28-0, Rudra Pratap 4-0-27-0, Harbhajan 10-1-40-1, Ganguly 2-1-1-0, Kumble 10-0-27-0, Sehwag 1-0-6
