Anticlimactic finish leaves things level

CAPE TOWN // In the end, after four gripping days of cut-and-thrust, Test cricket's top-of-the-table clash had a mundane ending.

India's chances of hunting down 340 on a final-day pitch were always going to rest on Virender Sehwag, but once he departed in the day's 12th over, the fizz went out of the contest.

By the time the players shook hands with eight overs still to be bowled in the day, India had crawled to 166 for three, making sure of a series draw that kept them 11 points ahead of South Africa in the International Cricket Council rankings.

No team had ever successfully chased 340 at Newlands and the magnitude of India's task was apparent early on, with outswing from Dale Steyn and trampoline bounce from Morne Morkel keeping even the explosive Sehwag on a leash.

Just 19 runs came from the first nine overs and Sehwag was extremely fortunate when a slash slipped through JP Duminy's hands at backward point.

South Africa did not have to mope about that long though, as Morkel got one to straighten and take the edge to slip. Sehwag had taken 40 balls over his 11 and as he trudged off, India's hopes of series victory went with him.

Gautam Gambhir, off the field all of day four to treat an injured elbow that rules him out of the one-day series, was struck another painful blow there in the second over of the day, but once again his toughness came to the fore as he and Rahul Dravid ground down some hostile pace bowling.

Harbhajan Singh had taken seven wickets in the South African second innings, but there was no such impact from Paul Harris, the tall left-armer who rarely gives the ball a big tweak. With Imran Tahir, the Pakistani married to a Durban girl named in the one-day squad and about to stake a claim, Harris's Test place could be in jeopardy.

For a long time, he aimed for the rough outside the right-hander's leg stump, and Dravid was more than content to pad the ball away. He looked more dangerous when he came round the wicket, but luck deserted him as AB de Villiers dropped Gambhir at silly point off the leading edge.

Dravid's 112-ball vigil had ended by then. Ian Gould had given him a life off the luckless Harris, after the ball struck pad before bat, but there was little he could do about a Lonwabo Tsotsobe delivery that lifted to take the edge to third slip. It could well be the last shot of a career that has spanned 14 years and 150 Tests.

In the final session, Steyn had Gambhir gloving one behind after a 184-ball 64 but after that South Africa's bowlers toiled fruitlessly, much like their Indian counterparts had the afternoon before. Sachin Tendulkar made 14 from 91 balls in what will surely be his final innings on South African soil, and there were a few boundaries on offer for VVS Laxman as time wound down.

South Africa have not beaten a high-ranking side at home since Pakistan came here in 2006/07, but rather than dwell on that negative, Graeme Smith, the Proteas captain, praised the Jacques Kallis-inspired fightback that made the game safe on day four.

"At 130 for six, we had our backs against the wall," he said. "We showed character to get into a position where we could then try to win the game. I did expect more from the wicket today. But there wasn't much swing, and it turned only out of the rough."

MS Dhoni, India's captain, spoke of how the series might have ended differently had he won the toss at Centurion, and blamed the Kookaburra ball for his bowlers failing to close the game out on Wednesday. He was most animated, however, when talking about Gary Kirsten.

Kirsten, who has coached the Indians for three years, is tipped to take over the South African side after the World Cup. "I don't know if it's his last Test, but all I can say is that every member of the squad loves him," Dhoni said. "We all appreciate the devotion with which he has done the job for Indian cricket."