Dravid And Dhoni Fire India To Day-One Record

16 November 2009

Dravid And Dhoni Fire India To Day-One Record

Day one centurions Rahul Dravid (left) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

India 385-6 (Dravid 177no, Dhoni 110) v Sri Lanka

Scorecard
First Test, day one, Ahmedabad

Centuries from Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni enabled India to score more runs than they had ever managed before on the opening day of a Test match and that came after they lost four key batsmen inside eight overs of play after they won the toss and chose to bat.
Dravid was unbeaten on 177 as they fought back magnificently to close on 385 for six, Dhoni departing shortly before stumps having hit 110, the pair putting on 224 for the sixth wicket and Dravid joining compatriot Sachin Tendulkar in passing 11,000 runs in Test cricket.
The morning session belonged to Sri Lanka, however, left-armer Chanaka Welagedara marking his recall by dismissing Gautam Gambhir (1), Virender Sehwag (16) and Tendulkar (4) as India were left reeling at 32 for four inside eight overs when VVS Laxman was bowled by Dammika Prasad for a four-ball duck.
The recovery process was begun by Dravid, who stroked 26 boundaries and a six, and Yuvraj Singh, the pair of them adding 125 for the fifth wicket, Yuvraj's contribution 68 in 93 balls.
Dravid and Dhoni then set about ensuring that it was India's day with 165 runs coming in the final session alone although Dhoni's dismissal just 17 balls before the close dampened their mood a little, Harbhajan Singh making an unbeaten two as Welagedara finished with three for 75 and Prasad, by virtue of having Dhoni caught behind by Prasanna Jayawardene late on, two for 90.
Dhoni's second Test century, his first as captain, came from 154 balls and also saw him pass 2000 Test runs in the process while Dravid, as solid in defence and ruthless in attack as ever, faced four balls more to get past three figures, also notching up his 21,000th first-class run during his innings.
India recalled their own left-arm fast bowler, Zaheer Khan who is fully fit following a shoulder problem while the interesting selection issue for Sri Lanka was the decision to leave out Ajantha Mendis with left-arm spinner Rangana Herath joining Muralitharan.
Dilshan plays as a specialist opening batsman following an ankle injury scare earlier this week.