South Africa pair dominates India in 1st test

Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla posted centuries and combined for an unbroken 285-run stand to guide South Africa to a powerful 291-2 on the first day of the opening test against India.

Kallis struck 13 fours and two sixes in an unbeaten 159, his 34th test century that brought him to No. 3 spot in test cricket's top century-makers, while Amla was on 115 at the draw of stumps.

The Kallis-Amla partnership is the highest for the third wicket in all tests since the same two batsmen put on 330 versus New Zealand in 2007.

The composed show by this pair revived South Africa after openers Ashwell Prince (0) and Graeme Smith (6) fell cheaply with just six runs on the board.

Kallis' hundred brought him at par with former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar and West Indian Brian Lara in the exclusive club of leading century-makers. Topping the list is Sachin Tendulkar of India with 45 centuries and Australian captain Ricky Ponting is in No. 2 spot with 39 hundreds.

Amla's knock featured 11 fours.

Batting first after skipper Smith won the toss, South Africa conceded the initial advantage to the hosts as paceman Zaheer Khan struck early to snare Prince and Smith.

Prince was the first to go, trying to evade a bouncer from Khan that lobbed off his gloves to Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the fifth over.

Khan claimed the prize wicket of Smith two overs later with a fine delivery that swung in sharply and dislodged the stumps.

Amla and Kallis then turned the course of the match in a series that will decide the No. 1 spot in the International Cricket Council's test rankings.

An injury-stricken India picked rookie middle-order batsman Subramaniam Badrinath and wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha.

They got the chance to make test debuts as V.V.S. Laxman was ruled out by a finger injury while Rohit Sharma twisted an ankle in the morning warmup. India was already without Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Shantakumarn Sreesanth through injury.