Ahmedabad, Nov 16: In a rare exhibition of dazzling strokeplay, Rahul Dravid hammered an unbeaten 177 and inspired his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to hit a century and Yuvraj Singh a fifty as India recovered from a nightmarish 32 for four to end the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka at 385 for six here on Monday.
Seldom has one seen Dravid in such an aggressive mode. He has never scored so many runs in a day’s play. In the process he has crossed the 11,000-run mark and was involved in two century partnerships — 125 with Yuvraj and 224 with Dhoni. It was his 78th century partnership, a world record. All added up to another record, the highest score by India in a day’s play.
After Dhoni decided to bat, within the first hour India lost their top four batsmen, three of them to fast bowler Chanaka Welegedara (3/75) in what looked like a re-run of their disastrous batting display when they were shot out for 76 by South Africa in April last year at the Sardar Patel Stadium in the Motera neighbourhood of Ahmedabad.
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