“The Wall” stands tall over Sri Lanka

By Tanmay S
for Cricketain.com

Published: November 17, 2009

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India vs. Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Day 1

Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad: Rahul Dravid, the “wall” of Indian cricket, scored the 27th ton of his career and his 10th 150+ to propel India to a respectable total of 385 for 6 at the end of day 1 of the first test between Indian and Sri Lanka. In his trademark majestic style, Dravid made his presence felt on the international test cricket scene once again, by scoring a long awaited century on a pitch where other pillars of the team such as Tendulkar, Gambhir, Sehwag and Laxman couldn’t create anything significant.

India won the toss and chose to bat on a partly grassy track at Ahmedabad, a logical choice to make. This is considered as a fine batting wicket with a good bounce where the ball comes on to the bat, creating nice batting conditions, although Indian top order tried their best to falsify the claim. Indian batsmen were deceived by an elusive swing from Welegedara who claimed three early wickets. It is worth mentioning that Welegedara managed to shatter the stumpsof the two great batsmen, Gambhir and Tendulkar, and also managed to trap Sehwag in front of the pads. Surely, they will have another chance for revenge but as for first half of day 1, it was Welegedara who had the last word. None of them could even remotely negotiate his deliveries and succumbed easily to good bowling.

Laxman was clean bowled by Prasad for a duck at which his heart must have sunk. If he doesn’t perform well in this series, he very well knows that there are many youngsters wanting to snatch his almost permanent place in India’s test squad.

Thereafter Yuvraj Singh and Dravid took charge of the game as they contributed a strong 125 runs partnership for the fifth wicket.

Over the past couple of decades, Rahul Dravid has played the role of anchor very well, especially during test cricket. During the times of crisis, when the middle order has collapsed, Dravid has played long innings to enable India reach respectable totals. His 177 in this match, was one of those innings. With this memorable knock, he made several world records. With Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni he played in his 77th and 78th 100 runs partnerships. He also crossed Steve Waugh to become the fifth largest run scorer in test cricket. He also crossed the 11000 test runs mark to join the elite club of batsmen with 11000 plus test runs.

Although Dravid has often refused to admit that there is such a thing as natural game and that he has one, his innings was remarkably Dravid like. It was as stylish as it was impeccable. In an innings marked by patience and classy shot making, he also managed to keep a healthy scoring rate for India. A large chunk of his runs came in boundaries.

Just after lunch, Dravid scored three boundaries in a single over off Welegedara. Dravid’s innings was unperturbed with Welegedara’s spin which troubled several batsmen earlier. The three boundaries were scored around the ground in three different directions, replying each time to bowler’s new tactic. He treated Muralitharan in a similar way when he scored two boundaries of Murali’s deadly spin.

Yuvraj scored a good 68 off 93 deliveries although at a scoring rate slow by his standards. Dhoni complemented Dravid’s innings well. Indeed, Dhoni also scored a hundred with 10 fours and a six. Dhoni and Dravid contributed a massive 224 runs partnership. Dhoni departed at 110 but Dravid continued, with an unbeaten 177 at the end of day’s play.

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