( CNN ) -- Jacques Kallis moved into joint third place on cricket 's all-time Test century list as he helped South Africa recover from a disastrous start to the opening match of the series against top-ranked India in Nagpur on Saturday . The all-rounder joined Brian Lara and Sunil Gavaskar in having scored 34 tons in the five-day game as he posted 159 on the opening day , putting on an unbroken 285 with Hashim Amla as the tourists battled back from losing two wickets for only six runs . The 34-year-old right-hander reached the milestone in his 136th match , five more than West Indian Lara and 11 more than India 's Gavaskar . Only India 's Sachin Tendulkar , who will seek to add to his record tally of 45 centuries in this match , and Australia captain Ricky Ponting ( 39 ) have passed three figures more times than that trio . Amla ended the day on 115 , his eighth century in his 42 Test , having come to the crease after India 's left-arm quick bowler Zaheer Khan had Ashwell Prince caught behind by wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a duck , fending off a short ball . India , who have taken South Africa 's top ranking of the nine Test-playing nations , struck again soon after when Zaheer clean bowled Proteas captain Graeme Smith for six . But Kallis took the attack to the bowlers , and had scored 120 of South Africa 's tea total of 193-2 . Amla had only 38 to his name when Kallis reached his ton , but then took charge in the third and final session as hit hit 55 of the 92 runs scored . It ended a frustrating day for the home side , who had to give reserve wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha his debut as a specialist batsman after VVS Laxman failed a fitness test and Rohit Sharma injured himself playing football in the warm-up . Dhoni then lost the toss , and Zaheer 's early exploits proved to be a false dawn .
Jacques Kallis scores 34th Test century as South Africa reach 291-2 on opening day . Hosts India took two early wickets before Kallis added 285 with Hashim Amla . Kallis moves into joint third on all-time list with 159 while Amla contributes 115 . India head the Test rankings , having overtaken second-placed South Africa last year .