CENTURION: Jacques Kallis cracked his maiden double century as South Africa declared their first innings at a mammoth 620 for four to take a commanding lead of 484 on the third day of the first Test against India on Saturday. 

Scorecard 

Kallis remained unbeaten on 201 as the hosts declared their innings immediately after AB de Villiers (129 off 112 balls) was dismissed by Ishant Sharma about half an hour into the post-lunch session. 

India were 92 for no loss in their second innings at tea on the third day with Virender Sehwag (51) and Gautam Gambhir (33) at the crease. They were still trailing by 392 runs. 

Sehwag got a reprieve when he was on 34 with a diving Hashim Amla spilling a difficult chance at short cover, Lonwabo Tsotsobe being the unlucky bowler. 

The flamboyant opener brought about his half century in style by flicking Morne Morkel behind square for a boundary, an effort which came off just 46 balls. 

Earlier, there was no respite for the Indians after the lunch break as both Kallis and de Villiers kept piling up the runs with ease. 

Resuming at the lunch score of 591 for three, Kallis notched up his maiden double century in Test cricket when he flicked Jaidev Unadkat to the fine leg boundary. He raised his bat to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd and his teammates in the dressing room after completing the milestone. 

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni kept rotating his bowlers but none of them had the sting to pose much problems for the South African batsmen. 

Kallis and de Villiers put on a rollicking 224-run fourth wicket partnership before Ishant managed to separate them by accounting for the rampaging de Villiers. 

De Villiers edged the ball to Dhoni behind the stump and captain Graeme Smith declared the innings immediately after his dismissal. It was the fastest century by a South African as it came off just 75 balls, beating the previous fastest shared by Denis Lindsay, Jonty Rhodes and Shaun Pollock, by 21 balls. 

It was an extraordinary innings by De Villiers, who in his previous Test match scored a South African record 278 not out against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi last month. 

Kallis remained unbeaten on 201, a knock which came off 270 balls and contained 15 boundaries and five sixes. His previous best score in Test cricket was 189 against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in 2006. 

For the Indians, paceman Ishant (2/120) and spinner Harbhajan Singh (2/169) were the two bowlers who got the wickets in an otherwise lacklustre bowling display.