CHENNAI, India (Reuters) - 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 on Saturday.

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 unbeaten on 59 and Hashim Amla, top-scorer with 159 in the first innings, 35 not out, pushing the game towards a draw.

Captain Graeme Smith was out for 35 but the top-order batsmen again held firm on a pitch with minor wear and tear.

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.

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.

INDIAN RECORD

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.

The 29-year-old Sehwag struck 43 fours and five sixes in his near nine-hour stay. He became only the third batsman to score two test triple hundreds, joining Lara and Australian Don Bradman.

Paceman Makhaya Ntini struck twice in successive overs after dashing the big hopes of Sehwag in the sixth over with the second new ball.

He forced the explosive batsman to edge a rising ball to McKenzie at first slip before Tendulkar drove a low catch to Jacques Kallis at second slip.

Saurav Ganguly (24) edged a catch behind the stumps off Harris as six Indian batsmen were caught in the close cordon.

Sehwag raised 268 runs for the second wicket with Dravid after adding 213 runs with fellow opener Wasim Jaffer (73).

Dravid, on 99 at lunch, drove Ntini for a straight four off the third ball after the interval to reach 100, his first since his 129 against Bangladesh last year after 20 innings.

He edged Ntini to Kallis at slip soon after to start a slide, hastened when wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni (16) fell.

Steyn forced Dhoni to fend a catch behind the stumps before bowling skipper Anil Kumble (3), Harbhajan Singh (0) and RP Singh (0).

(Editing by Clare Fallon)