Ahmedabad, Apr 5: India suffered a humiliating defeat against South Africa as they went down by an innings and 90 runs in the Ahmedabad Test. The last man to be dismissed was S Sreesanth, who was cleaned up by Makhaya Ntini. The home team now trail 0-1 in the series with just one more game to go at Kanpur.

Earlier, India were on the verge of a humiliating innings defeat as they lost their ninth wicket in the form of RP Singh, who was caught at second slip by Jacques Kallis as he needlessly poked at a ball outside the off stump.

Just minutes earlier, Harbhajan Singh, who looked to be struggling throughout his innings of four runs was out as he tried to get a half prod forward to an incoming delivery off Dale Steyn and was caught plumb in front of the wicket.

Earlier, Paul Harris completed Indian captain Anil Kumble's cup of misery when he foxed the Indian captain with an arm ball that kept straight. Kumble, who was out for a duck in the first innings, scored just 5 in the second essay. Skipper had a forgettable match with the ball as well, as he toiled hard for two days picking just 1 wicket.

With innings defeat looming large, the only hope Indians have is to see off the remainder of Day 3 without losing any wickets and hope for the Weather Gods to intervene.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni followed Sourav Ganguly to the pavillion as he was caught at slips by captain Smith. Ntini, who earlier in the innings dropped a sitter of Dhoni, made amends by claiming the Indian vice captain. Dhoni played an uncharacteristically grinding knock of 52 runs, consuming 132 balls for his effort. He hit 5 fours.

Minutes before, Sourav Ganguly had missed out on a well deserved century by a mere 13 runs when he was 'caught behind' by Mark Boucher off Dale Styen. The replays, however, were inconclusive whether the ball had hit the bat or not. Benefit of doubt, which usually goes to the batsman, in this case went to the bowler. The unfortunate decision by umpire Tony Hill brought a premature end to a fabulous innings from Ganguly. He took 149 balls for his chanceless knock of 87. His lion hearted effort was sprinkled by 8 hits to the fence.

Earlier, in the company of MS Dhoni, he had kept alive the Indian hopes of salvaging pride and avoiding an innings defeat. The duo, which found themselves on the opposite sides during the senior-junior tussle in the Indian camp, joined forces to raise a face saving century partnership. The South African attack, which until now had created havoc in the hosts' ranks, was effectively blunted by the pair. With the last recognised pair at the crease, home team fans would hope that the Ganguly-Dhoni combine continues as long as it can.

Dada had earlier compiled a fighting half century, first by an Indian in the match, as he and Dhoni battled on. With his place in the side under threat and his team's back to the wall, 'Dada' displayed excellent composure as he handled both pace and spin with relative ease. The southpaw played his natural game throughout to reach the landmark in 86 deliveries.

India's quest to avoid the ignominy of an innings defeat suffered another blow when VVS Laxman was lapped up behind the wickets by Boucher of Morkel. Laxman, who looked in a silken touch during his 35 run essay, added 55 runs for the fourth wicket with his former captain Sourav Ganguly. Just as the duo seemed to have stemmed the rot, Morkel struck.

In the morning session, Jacques Kallis brought curtains to Wasim Jaffer's gusty innings as he sent the Mumbaikar to the hut for 19. De Villiers was again the catcher as Jaffer edged a well pitched delivery to second slips to leave India reeling.

In the previous over, Indians were left staring down the barrel when 'The Wall' Rahul Dravid cracked in face of a hostile spell from the South African quickies. Dravid, who looked solid until his dismissal, was caught hopping on a short of length delivery by Morkel, only to induce an outside edge to safe hands of De Villiers. He scored 17.

Makhaya Ntini delivered a huge blow to the Indian aspirations as he had Virender Sehwag trapped in front of the wicket. Sehwag, who had started in his typical indomitable fashion, hitting two sixes of Styen in the first over of the innings, departed for 17.

Just moments earlier, Sehwag had survived a close caught behind appeal of the same bowler when umpire Doctrove made an excellent decision in favour of the batsman.

Sensing victory, South Africans decided to go for the kill. The visitors decided to declare on their overnight score of 494/7. Proteas now lead by 418 runs. Even salvaging pride would be a Herculean task for India as it's rattled batsmen home to make amend for their first innings debacle. South Africa`s commanding performance was built around AB de Villiers` unbeaten 217, his first test double century.

Saturday`s play, originally scheduled to begin 30 minutes early to make up for time lost to rain on Friday, was delayed for the same duration due to damp ground conditions.

Meanwhile, the day started on an inauspicious note as the news of Sachin Tendulkar's non participation in the Kanpur Test trickled in.