Dravid falls after 28th ton, India 535 for 4 at lunch

At lunch, VVS Laxman was batting on 24 in Yuvraj Singh's (13) company.

Today's morning session lacked yesterday's fireworks when Virender Sehwag set alight the Green Park with some audacious power-hitting during his breathtaking 122-ball 131.
Resuming on 417 for two, overnight batsmen Dravid (144) and Sachin Tendulkar (40) were content nudging and tapping along.

The first four of the day came via Rahul Dravid's streaky cut off Angelo Mathews and Tendulkar also looked far from his fluent self.

On 29, Tendulkar chipped Ajantha Mendis and Tillakaratne Dilshan, hurling himself to left, almost pulled off a blinder before the ball popped out of his palm. Tendulkar decided to unsettle Mendis and stepped out to hit him over his head for a neat six. Four balls later, Mendis had his revenge.

Tendulkar came sashaying down the track again but in the end did not get the elevation and chipped it to Thilan Samaraweera at deep mid-off. This was the end of his 94-run third wicket partnership with Dravid and Tendulkar's wait for his first century at the venue got prolonged.

By that time, Dravid had reached his 28th Test century with a straight driven four off Chanaka Welegedara and once he reached the milestone, the former India captain added another feather in his already well-adorned cap when he overtook Allan Border (11,174) in the Test run accumulators' chart.

Dravid (11,182) now sits fourth in the list topped by Tendulkar (12,917).

That achieved, a flurry of boundaries flew from Dravid's blade as he punched Muralitharan through covers, played a delectable late cut off the wily offie, smacked Mendis over the top and then stepped out to hit Rangana Herath for a clean six.

New man in Laxman also got into groove without a fuss but was lucky to stay put after a freak incident that cost Dravid his wicket.

Laxman uppishly drove Herath but the spinner could not latch on to the return catch. He went for it but ball ricocheted off his palm to hit the wicket with Dravid caught short of ground.

It was a sad end to Dravid's 226-ball knock that included 15 hits to the fence besides a six.

Yuvraj looked ill at ease against Muralitharan but smote Mendis for a massive six to assert him.