Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and VVS Laxman put up a 259 run partnership on Day 3 of the second test to put India on the driving seat. India declared for 643 at the loss of six wickets, its highest total against the South Africans.

While Dhoni remained unbeaten at 132 from 187 balls, Laxman scored an unbeaten 143 from 260 balls. This is only the second time that Indian batsmen scored four centuries in a single innings. Virendra Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar scored centuries on Day 2 of the Kolkata test.

The crowd came to life by some delightful aggressive stroke play by both Dhoni and Laxman after night watchman Amit Mishra lost his wicket to M Morkel making 28 of 38 balls.

In the course of his 15th test century, Laxman also became the second batsman in the country to achieve over 1,000 international runs at a particular venue. Sunil Gavaskar was the first one to achieve it in Wankhade Stadium and M A Chidambaram Stadium.

India at the driving seat now hopes to win the test and level the two match series.

South Africa was playing at five for no loss, when bad halted the game nearly half an hour before the scheduled time.