(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.
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Jacques Kallis scores 34th Test century as South Africa reach 291-2 on opening day
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Hosts India took two early wickets before Kallis added 285 with Hashim Amla
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Kallis moves into joint third on all-time list with 159 while Amla contributes 115
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India head the Test rankings, having overtaken second-placed South Africa last year
But Kallis took the attack to the bowlers, and had scored 120 of @placeholder's tea total of 193-2.