West Indian captain Brian Lara who said he was inspired by India, made a battling century before finishing the third day of the first Test against South Africa in a blaze of glory at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday.

Lara hit a world Test record of 28 off the penultimate over of the day as he scored 178 not out and enabled the West Indies to avoid the follow-on.

The 34-year-old veteran, who has eclipsed other West Indian legend Viv Richards as the Caribbean's leading overall run scorer, said he watched televised coverage of India's fighting innings against Australia in Adelaide before going to bat.

"India are playing the best team in the world and we are playing against the second best team," Lara told reporters after his innings.

"I used some of India's strength. We are the underdogs and we need to fight."

The previous most number of runs scored in a single over was 26 by New Zealand's Craig McMillan off Pakistan's Younis Khan in Hamilton three years ago.

Said Lara: "I had no intention of breaking a record. I was just trying to score as many runs as possible."

West Indies were 6-363 at close of play, 198 behind South Africa's first innings total of 561.

In difficult conditions, on a pitch with variable bounce, Lara had to work hard for much of the day but he showed his brilliance when South African skipper Graeme Smith asked left-arm spinner Robin Peterson to bowl a single over at the end of the day.

Lara smashed the first ball through the covers for four, thrashed the next two for six over midwicket, hit two straight drives for four and cut the last ball to the boundary.

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