Dravid slams a solid 146

Minutes into the second day, there was another moment. Again at 95. Off the third ball he faced, off left-arm pacer Ian Bradshaw, he reached for one that he would have left well alone on any normal day in office. But then, this was that funny time. Thankfully for the Bangalorean, the ball sped past the outside edge, leaving Brian Lara looking up to the skies in dismay.

The hundred did come, finally, unlike that June summer afternoon at Lord8217;s in his debut Test when Dravid edged all-rounder Chris Lewis for a catch behind the wicket for 95, leaving Sourav Ganguly to savour his Test debut with a century.

Then again, during the Sri Lanka tour of 1997, Dravid got out in the 90s in successive Tests, both in Colombo. His scores then: 92 and 93. Now fast-forward to the Mohali Test against England this year 8212; India won by nine wickets, but Dravid8217;s first innings score? 95. Of course, the Indian skipper has this one big name in front of him in the 90s charts 8212; Steve Waugh has fallen 10 times on the home stretch.

But there8217;s this other figure, which suggests that Dravid could have actually got past Sachin Tendulkar8217;s 35 hundreds by now. Check out the number of times he has got lost in the 80-100 corridor: 17.