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Dravid slams ton, India 344/6 at close
Pak bounced back in the last session.Full Score | Action Replay | Player of the day | Sachin's road to 10,000:Statistics | Facts
Rahul Dravid cracked a scintillating century but India lost three batting stalwarts in a span of 19 balls to allow arch-rivals Pakistan claw back into the second cricket Test on Wednesday.
The dependable Dravid (110) notched up his 19th Test century and took centre stage after Virender Sehwag had put the visitors on the mat with a blistering 81.
But the hosts lost as many as four wickets in the last session to find themselves at 344 for six at close on the opening day.
The Indians were cruising along comfortably at 278 for two at one stage before Sachin Tendulkar (52), Sourav Ganguly (12) and VVS Laxman (0) fell in quick succession to squander a solid start with medium pacer Abdul Razzaq providing the breakthoughs.
The dismissal of Dravid at close came as a big blow for the Indians who managed to score at a brisk pace right through the day on a what appeared to be a good batting track at Eden Gardens.
Wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik was the lone not out batsman on 28 at stumps which came at the fall of Dravid in the last scheduled over.
Tendulkar also made the opening day memorable by becoming only the fifth batsman in Test history to score 10,000 or more runs, a landmark he achieved when he scored 27.
Dravid was at his best, either in driving the seamers or cutting the slow bowlers.
He moved from 92 to triple figures with two successive boundaries and the century notching stroke was a stunning on drive off Mohammad Sami.
The vice-captain and Karthik waged a tense battle against the leg spinners, Shahid Afridi (2-62) and Danish Kaneria (2-116) towards the fag end of the day.
It was a fascinating contest as Pakistan looked to break the last recognised pair.
For a while, it seemed the rookie wicketkeeper-batsman was the vulnerable but the Tamil Nadu youngster emerged unscathed from a rowdy spell by Afridi.
Just when it seemed the duo had seized the reins from Pakistan's grasp, Dravid faint-edged a teasing leg break from Kaneria to leave the momentum with the visitors.
