Neil McKenzie finished unbeaten on 155 as the first Test between India and South Africa finished in a tame draw in Chennai.

McKenzie anchored the Proteas' second innings of 331 for five as the tourists batted through the final day to ensure they go into Thursday's second Test all square.

India needed quick wickets if they were to force a result but some sloppy fielding in the morning session ensured that did not materialise.

Hashim Amla, who went on to make 81, was twice dropped before lunch, once by Sreesanth and once by RP Singh.

Those errors, combined with McKenzie's determination to occupy the crease, set the tone for the day.

Amla's luck finally ran out shortly before lunch when he edged an Anil Kumble delivery to Rahul Dravid at first slip.

McKenzie reached his fourth Test ton in an afternoon session which also saw two South Africa wickets fall.

The first was that of Jacques Kallis, who made 19 before departing to a wonderful catch by Singh at square leg off the bowling of Harbhajan Singh.

Harbhajan claimed his third wicket of the innings two overs later, Ashwell Prince (five) lunging forward only to see the ball clip the glove on its way to Wasim Jaffer at short leg.

AB de Villiers departed in similar fashion after tea, Virender Sehwag the bowler this time and Sourav Ganguly the fielder close to the bat.

But they proved to be rare moments of success for the Indian attack as the final day panned out in a similar fashion to the previous four with the batsmen in charge.

It was a match which featured a number of notable innings - Sehwag hitting the fastest triple century in Test history, Dravid reaching 10,000 runs in Test cricket and Amla and McKenzie both hitting sizeable centuries.

South Africa skipper Graeme Smith felt the match had provided his team with some much-needed time in Indian conditions ahead of the second Test in Ahmedabad.

"It is better than a loss, we have got some good cricket under our belts and we have a lot of encouragement heading into the second Test," he said.

"I thought our batsmen played well throughout the match and I was pretty comfortable with our bowling as well.

"Virender played a superb knock but we learnt a lot to take into the next match.

"Hopefully we can be a bit more ruthless there."

India held a first-innings advantage of 87 but the tourists batted resolutely in their second knock to frustrate the home side.

"We always knew the quality of the South African batsman, they batted exceptionally well," admitted India captain Anil Kumble.

"We will have to sit down to work out how we can get them out."