Great Gambhir

Mohali: Opener Gautam Gambhir posted a century and former captain Rahul Dravid found his long–lost form on Friday to spur India to 179–1 at the end of an abbreviated opening day of the second Test here against England.

Gambhir was unbeaten on 106, his fourth century in 22 tests, and Dravid was batting on 65 when bad light stopped play 42 minutes before the scheduled close.

Poor visibility also delayed the start of play for 20 minutes. England would be the more thankful of the sides for the lost hour, as the India pair put on an unbeaten 173–run partnership for the second wicket after the early loss of their usual catalyst Virender Sehwag for a duck

Pacer Stuart Broad, back in the side after recovering from the hamstring injury that forced him to miss the opening test which India won by six wickets, made Sehwag edge to wicketkeeper Matt Prior in the second over of the match for the sole wicket.

Heavy wintry conditions coupled with a fair sprinkling of grass on the pitch seemed to favour the bowlers, yet captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni elected to bat after winning the toss.

England's seamers dominated the morning session in which the home team's batsmen struggled against the movement of the ball before Gambhir stamped his authority with some firm drives and cuts.

Left–hander Gambhir's 229–ball knock included 12 fours and a lofted six over long–off against off–spinner Graeme Swann as he dominated the Indian innings, posting his third Test hundred of the season.

"Test cricket is all about challenges and getting runs against all sort of attacks on different pitches, said Gambhir, adding that the home team had done a good job after losing Sehwag so early."

"Being an opener, my job was to see off the new ball. It was not the kind of wicket on which you could have gone bang–bang," he said. "The ball was doing a bit and they were really coming hard at us in the morning."

Gambhir was lucky to survive when Swann found an edge, but the chance eluded Paul Collingwood's outstretched hand in the slips.

Dravid's patient 205–ball knock featured seven boundaries, helping the stylish batsman post the 54th half–century of his test career and first in nine test innings.

India resisted the temptation to drop the out–of–form Dravid down the order.

Going through the leanest form of his career, Dravid had scored 320 runs in the previous 10 Tests, including just seven from two innings in the first test at Chennai. "Dravid's a legend, he's a fantastic player and he has proved it time and again," Gambhir said.

"The way he handled the seam bowling today was fantastic. We always knew he was just one innings away [from striking form]."