In a rare show of classy wrist flicks, pull and square cuts, Mr. Dependable cracked a classy 177* to put India in command. Dhoni, after winning the toss and deciding to bat first, the top order batsman failed to deliver their goods once again.

Gambhir, Sehwag, Tendulkar and Laxman all falling within just thirty deliveries, looked like a re-run of their disastrous batting display when they were cleaned up for 76 by South Africa in April last year at the Sardar Patel Stadium. But with sheer focus and dazzling stroke play Rahul Dravid steered the innings to safety, by scoring 177* with 26 fours and a six.

With this 'The Wall'  reached  his 11,000 run mark, which only five players including him could reach in the history of the game. With wickets tumbling at one end Yuvraj Singh showed some potential in the middle with Dravid anchoring the innings. It was one of the rare innings that has come from Rahul Dravid.

He was aggressive, quick and sharp. With an examplary shot selection, he crafted the innings and fine tuned the scoreboard with a valuable 125 run  patnership with Yuvraj. Dravid and Yuvraj smacked all around the park and every shot that was played, the ball won the race.

It was unlucky on the part of Yuvraj Singh to get out of a loopy delivery of Muralidharan giving a simple catch to Dilshan.  The Sri Lankans had a good chance to pull up their socks but skipper, M.S.Dhoni gave no chance to the bowlers to settle down.

An aggressive Dhoni showed his cool and got his 2nd test century with a record patnership of 224 runs with Dravid. Dhoni with his sensible batting scored a  century in stlye by hitting Prasad for a four.The duo played some lofty shots on both sides of the wickets as 164 runs came off 36 overs in the last session.

Dravid involved himself in two century partnerships, 125 with Yuvraj Singh to stabilise the innings and 224 with Dhoni to dominate the innings. Sangakara might have thought it was good to loose the toss after his bowlers provided a great start but with Rahul Dravid standing tall and making the fielders gasp in the middle, Sangakara was left with no option.

Probably the think tanks would be happy with the decision of including Dravid and as usual 'The Wall' is still 'The Wall'. India were 385/6 at stumps on day one against Sri Lanka, which indicates India is now in the drivers seat.

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