The Bangalorean has always been a great tradionalist, and it silently rankled him all this while that he didn’t have a hundred at the headquarters of world cricket.
On an emotion-soaked Saturday evening, Dravid set the record straight with a knock right out of the top drawer, cementing a wonderful relationship with Lord’s, where he made his Test debut 15 summers back.
Despite the former skipper’s unbeaten 103, however, India still find themselves way behind the eight-ball in the first Test.
Replying to England’s 474 for eight declared, the visitors were bowled out on day three
for a modest 286 to concede a lead of 188.
England extended that advantage to 193 by close and would appear well placed to press for victory.
Cause for optimism
That said, there is cause for optimism within the Indian ranks, and that is because of the previous 32 occasions when Dravid has made a century, India have lost just one Test match. It will have also delighted Dravid no end that he couldn’t have chosen a better stage to go past Ricky Ponting and become the second highest run-scorer in Test history, behind only Sachin Tendulkar, as India made it 1-2 in the run-scoring charts.
Dravid also moved to within one century of Sunil Gavaskar’s mark of 34 Test centuries, the second most by an Indian after world-leader Tendulkar’s whopping 51 hundreds in the longer version. Just last month, Dravid had completed number 32, in a winning cause against the West Indies in the first Test at Sabina Park in Kingston.
The expected 100th international century from Tendulkar’s bat didn’t eventuate, but Dravid more than made up for it. Dismissed at the same venue on his Test debut in 1996 for a heart-breaking 95, he has since been chasing a century at the Mecca of cricket ever since. The 15-year wait was worth it as strokes cascaded from his willow in a torrent, though he was forced to play a lone hand for the most part as his illustrious colleagues deserted him.
Dravid will allow himself a pat on the back, but also brace up for what lies ahead over the next two days because while an individual milestone might have been crossed, there is still a Test match to be saved, a situation to be salvaged.