Dravid surpassed Sir Don Bradman For Centuries

Dravid just surpassed the greatest cricketer's tally of 29 100s.

Congrats for well built innings..!

Well played Viru, as well..!


COMMENTARY ON THAT BALL :

Patel to Dravid, 2 runs, and he gets to the hundred with the cut! Nicely helped away past cover, and limps back for two. Looks up to the heavens, then acknowledges the reception from the dressing room. Second hundred since Ahmedabad last year, and his 30th overall. Goes past Bradman, and is level sixth with hayden now on that list.

Most centuries in tests

http://tinyurl.com/Test-centuries

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Sehwag and Dravid torment New Zealand

India 329 for 3 (Sehwag 173, Dravid 104) v New Zealand
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

	It was business as usual for Virender Sehwag © AFP

New Zealand were given an early glimpse of the difficult task ahead of them in India as the home team moved into a commanding position on the first day in Ahmedabad. Virender Sehwag sprinted to a century in just over a session while Rahul Dravid compiled an old-school Test hundred, starting off cautiously and opening up once set. Their contrasting efforts put India on course for a mammoth first-innings total, and left New Zealand demoralised.

India were thrilled at winning the toss on a track with little in it for either spinners or the quicks: MS Dhoni had a huge grin when he said, "Well, of course we want to bat," while Harbhajan Singh, watching from the boundary, threw his hands up in jubilation on hearing the news.

After that, it was a Sehwag treat for the sprinkling of fans who had turned up at Motera. In the third over, he jokingly signaled for a free-hit after Chris Martin overstepped. There aren't any in Tests, but that didn't stop Sehwag from carving the next delivery through covers for four to get his first runs. Two more off-side boundaries rounded off the over, and there was no slowing him down after that, despite several short deliveries to stop the drives.

Sehwag predominantly scored through the off side, cutting deliveries that were even fractionally wide, and skipping away from the stumps to play inside-out shots off the spinners. Despite going at a run-a-ball, there was none of the violence usually associated with that rate of scoring; he relied mostly on timing and placement as he peppered the off side for 18 boundaries.

India were 60 for 0 in the 12th over, the New Zealand attack was looking blunt, and Sehwag was enjoying himself, laughing after slipping while taking a single. Part-timer Jesse Ryder, though, got the final delivery of that over to move in a touch and had Gautam Gambhir inside-edging onto the stumps. It ended an innings where Gambhir had struggled for fluency as he searched for his form of 2009. He fed on leg-side offerings from debutant Hamish Bennett, who bowled with plenty of pace but didn't trouble the batsmen too much.

Smart Stats During their 60-run stand for the opening wicket, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag became India's most prolific opening pair, going past the aggregate of Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan. Their batting average is third in the list of most successful opening pairs (minimum 3000 runs). Sehwag made his 14th score of over 150 in Tests, bringing him level fourth with Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh. Only Sachin Tendulkar (20), Brian Lara (19) and Don Bradman (18) are above him. The double-century partnership between Dravid and Sehwag was the 15th time that Dravid was involved in a 200-plus stand and the 12th such occasion for Sehwag. Sachin Tendulkar holds the record among Indian batsmen having been involved in 18 such stands. Dravid's century was his 30th in Tests, taking him past Don Bradman and level sixth with Matthew Hayden on the list of batsmen with most Test centuries. Dravid's century was India's 400th in Tests and their 132nd century since Jan 1 2000.

Sehwag was unfazed by the loss of Gambhir, taking two fours an over off offspinner Jeetan Patel three times, and galloped to 82 with 15 minutes to go for lunch but couldn't become only the fifth batsman to make a century in the first session of a match.

Dravid, though, was struggling for runs: he was middling many deliveries but stroking them straight to the fielders. His recent form has been a bit of concern - just one half-century in his previous nine innings - and those worries remained as he scratched his way to 20 off 106 deliveries against a weak attack on a flat track. A couple of boundaries off Ryder midway through the session finally gave him some momentum after which he was more aggressive.

Sehwag had also toned down his aggression after lunch, and seemed to be struggling with his fitness; he rarely zipped through between the wickets, preferring to jog whenever possible and asked for a runner after tea. He was hardly bothered by the bowling till he was well past his fifth Test hundred of the year - a near run-out in the sixth over being the only major moment of concern.

Towards tea, though, he was tiring and offered a slew of opportunities to New Zealand: when on 144 he survived a close lbw call against Daniel Vettori after missing a reverse-sweep, a sharp caught-and-bowled chance in the next over and Bennett misjudged a catch at long-on in the final over before tea. The simplest opportunity came soon after the break when substitute Martin Guptill dropped a skier at midwicket.

As Sehwag slacked, Dravid took charge. The sumptuous cuts of old were back, especially against the spinners, and there were several types of on-drives for four as well. He was hit on the head by a Bennett bouncer, but two deliveries later he contemptuously pulled a short ball for four.

Sehwag was bowled by Vettori while lazily attempting an inside-out drive, but Dravid reached his 30th Test hundred soon after, moving past Don Bradman in the list of highest century-makers. He had taken only 64 deliveries for his second fifty; his first had come off 151. Though he was dismissed for 104 in familiar fashion - bottom-edging a cut - the 237-run stand with Sehwag had already put India in charge.

New Zealand's bowling was average, with the spinners not extracting much turn and the quick bowlers, Chris Martin and Bennett, rarely beating the bat on the slow track. The talk in the lead-up to the series had been about how New Zealand will be able to take 20 wickets in a Test against the Indian batting juggernaut, and that is a question their think-tank will be pondering over after the first day.

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Dravid walks the extra mile

He stopped his cover drive with a frown, as two saree clad groundswomen approached the stroke's vicinity, dragging along with them a squeaky roller. The women stopped just short of him, pulling the burden back from where it came. Watching them recede, he moved back and across, and with eyes focused over his clasped wrists, he executed the text book defence. As he held the pose with grace, the electronic lawnmower swallowed stubborn tufts of grass with a chugging din inside the square, while loud painters splashed their drenched brushes on the smoothened side of the carpet-like lawn.

As the sun sunk below the smoggy Ahmedabad horizon, Rahul Dravid found serenity amidst the surrounding chaos, shadow practicing on the pitch with incredible poise and zeal.

There was no willow in grasp, but his full repertoire of strokes was on display. From the supple drop of his wrists to the crunching hoick over mid-wicket, Dravid toiled for the second time on Tuesday, long after the official net session was over. He was leaving no stone unturned to get it right at Motera: a venue where he has demolished several tangible oppositions before; including his next, New Zealand.

As he crept out of the restricted area to join his waiting team-mates in the parking lot, the frown had turned into a pursed lip smile. In Dravid's world of insulated emotions, it was the equivalent of hip roaring laughter. Despite the odds stacked against him, the reasons to celebrate were plenty. Both his forthcoming opponents and the Sardar Patel Stadium have been more than kind to Dravid in the past.

Even though the batsman is struggling with a lean patch (346 runs in this calendar year at 34.60) leading upto the first Test against New Zealand, one look at his numbers in this city will give even his sternest critics hope aplenty.

His career Test average of 52.73 gets amplified to 60.54 in six matches at the Motera, helped of course with a fifty, a century and a double ton against the Kiwis in 2003. His numbers against New Zealand both home and away are impeccable too, averaging 59.90, with four out of his 29 tons coming against the Black Caps. The combination of the two - against the Kiwis at the Motera - churns out a stunning 85 runs per innings from Dravid's blade.

Turning the tide?

As the cricketing cliché goes, all it takes is one innings to turn the tide, and nobody knows that better than the 37-year-old. It was on this very ground that Dravid embarrassed both his critics and the visiting Sri Lankan bowlers last year, when he scored 177 runs in a day to complete the rescue act, after India were 32/4. That innings had ensured that both his dry spell with the bat and hushed calls for him to be dropped had come to a rude end.

Come Thursday, Dravid will have to do it all over again. For India may have beaten the Aussies without any meaningful contributions from him last month and will probably do it again against the Kiwis, but if they are to stand a chance in South Africa over three Tests starting December, the team will require Dravid's expertise more than ever.

With the bigger picture in mind, Dravid will need Ahmedabad more than ever to turn the tide. And if the knock is anything like what he managed last year against the Lankans, it won't be long before he swaggers right back into national consciousness. The obstacles and distractions are plenty, but if Tuesday evening is anything to go by, Dravid is already ready for action, before even a single ball is bowled.

http://cricket.yahoo.com/cricket/news/article?id=item/2.0/-/story/cricket.indianexpress.com/dravid-walks-extra-mile-20101103/

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Dravid's Form Check

RD's average has gone down by 5 since 2007..!!

Not only have Dravid and Ponting struggled when compared to the best in the world, they've also failed to keep pace with the best in their own teams. There used to be a time when Ponting was unquestionably the best batsman in Australia, but now that mantle has been taken over by Michael Clarke, while Simon Katich too has scored far more consistently than Ponting. It's not as if runs have completely eluded Ponting - among his six hundreds was a memorable 123 against India in Bangalore, his first century in the country, 101 and 99 in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in 2008, and 150 in the first Ashes Test in Cardiff - but those high scores have been offset by too many low ones.

For Dravid, the situation is worse.

In a line-up of heavyweight batsmen, his average is the poorest among the regular players; while three batsmen have averages of more than 60, Dravid's barely touches 40.

What's also been worrying is the spread of those runs: Dravid used to be India's best bet overseas, but four of his six hundreds during this period have come in India, and the other two were scored in Bangladesh. His one good series abroad was in New Zealand, but he failed to convert his half-centuries into something more substantial: he made four fifties in six innings, but none exceeded 83. Excluding his innings in Bangladesh, his overseas average during this period drops to 33.20, with no centuries in 33 innings. That doesn't augur well for a team who have a tour to South Africa coming up.

he drop in form over the last four years has meant that almost five runs have been lopped off the career averages of both players - Ponting's has dropped from nearly 60 to less than 55, while Dravid's has come down to less than 53 from a high of 57.58. For Ponting, what's noticeable is his poor conversion rate: during his prime he used to convert one out of two 50-plus scores into a hundred, but since 2007 that rate has fallen to one in nearly four (six out of 22). For Dravid, surprisingly, the ratio remains exactly the same before and during these four years.

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For both batsmen, the tendency to get out early in the innings is more marked: Ponting and Dravid used to get out for less than 20 once every three innings, roughly, when they were in form; now that percentage has increased considerably. Of the 60 innings Dravid has played since 2007 (excluding unbeaten sub-20 innings), he has been dismissed for less than 20 on 27 occasions, which is a whopping 45%. Five of those 27 dismissals were in the four Tests when Australia toured India in 2008: of the seven times he batted in that series, only twice did he top 15.

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And finally, here's a comparison of the performances of the two at No. 3, sorted by the score at which they've come in to bat. Again, the numbers don't flatter Dravid. Ponting has averaged more or less the same regardless of the score at which he has come in, but Dravid has clearly preferred situations when the openers have put together a substantial first-wicket partnership, which is another indication that his level has dropped - when he was at his peak, he relished situations that required him to repair the damage of an early setback.

Since 2007, Dravid has come in to bat 22 times when the openers have been separated with less than 20 on the board, and he has only scored two centuries - 136 against England in Mohali when the first wicket fell at 6, and 177 against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad, when the opening pair was separated at 14. On the other hand, he has failed to touch 20 on 10 of those 22 innings.

When the openers have added between 20 and 75, Dravid's average has increased to almost 41, but his conversion rate has been abysmal in these instances, with seven fifties and no hundred. And when the openers have laid a good platform, Dravid has helped himself to an average score of more than 52. In fact, all four of his hundreds have come when the openers have added more than 100 - two of those were against Bangladesh, while the other two followed double-century opening stands, in Kanpur and Ahmedabad.

For Ponting, the numbers are far more consistent, but then he has failed to take advantage of good starts. Clearly, over the next few months both batsmen need to raise their game. Given their past record, there's no reason to suggest they can't.

Stats :

Current Indian batsmen in Tests since Jan 2007

1) Gambhir 2116 @ 62.23 in 19 tests
2) Sehwag 2928 @ 61 in 28 tests
3) Tendulkar 3247 @ 60.12 in 35 tests
4) Laxman 2521 @ 57.97 in 34 tests
5) Dhoni 1850 @ 48.68 in 31 tests
6) Dravid 2392 @ 40.54 in 36 tests

Dravid, before and since Jan 2007

Till Dec 2006 : 9098 runs at 57.58
After Jan 07 : 2392 runs at 40.54

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Will Dravid find his form against NZ?

	A frustrated Rahul Dravid has been a common sight recently © Associated Press

It's definitely not a shove. Perhaps it's a gentle tap on his shoulder. Only Rahul Dravid can tell. Is Dravid feeling the pressure from the youngsters? Or is it an illusion in our minds? In the seven games he has played in 2010, Dravid averages 34.60. It's a dip from his high standards, of course, but is it cause for concern?

Cricinfo's Numbers Game recently traced his decline since 2007. Have a look; it isn't pretty. It felt worse when he was hit by a Shahadat Hossain bouncer and put in a Dhaka hospital in January this year. Indian fans have this thing about bouncers and their legendary batsmen. At least the older generation does.

They will tell you how Sunil Gavaskar was never hit on his head by a bouncer. They gasped and saw it as the end of their world when Gavaskar had his bat knocked out of his hand by a snorter from Malcolm Marshall in 1983. So when Dravid went down in Mirpur as if he were shot, for some it would have felt like a signpost of Dravid's decline, and not just a misjudgement of bounce.

In nine innings after that knock, Dravid has made one fifty, in the first Test against Australia. He has fallen to left-arm seamers a few times, chasing deliveries well outside the off stump. He has always looked to get on to that front foot; at times he has ended up chasing deliveries that could have been left alone. Some have said that his back leg remains rooted to the same spot now and it has meant that he has been stretching and playing well away from the body. Others have rubbished that as unnecessary fussing over technique and it's foolish to think Dravid has suddenly developed chinks. Dravid himself hasn't said anything on the issue.

Today, he was as focussed as ever in his preparation ahead of the Test. He batted against throws from Gary Kirsten and also faced both spin and pace. When the flash bulbs and television cameras swung to Sachin Tendulkar as he walked in to the nets, Dravid took a break and relaxed by talking to the umpires. But it wasn't long before he went in for an extra session and faced Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan. A couple of deliveries leaped past his outside edge and he jabbed and pushed out a couple others before the shots started to flow and the feet started to move. His fans will hope that everything falls in place in the Tests against New Zealand and Dravid can get in a groove for the sterner test ahead in South Africa.

There was another man who batted today alongside Dravid at the nets who might also feel a bit of the heat. Gautam Gambhir's 2010 average is worse than Dravid's - he averages 27 from 6 games. He has been afflicted with injuries and been in and out of the side. In his absence, M Vijay has performed admirably, so India is not without options. Gambhir's greatest test will come in South Africa. There we will learn how he handles pace and bounce. It won't hurt him if he prepares for it with a big innings or two against New Zealand. Will Dravid and Gambhir turn things around against New Zealand? We won't have to wait long to find out.

http://www.cricinfo.com/india-v-new-zealand-2010/content/current/story/485043.html

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