A dashing yet different Dilshan

At his best Tillakaratne Dilshan is a dashing, adventurous batsman. When first asked to open in Tests a couple of months ago, Dilshan said he would try and remain true to his aggressive style of play. He has already cracked two vital hundreds in three Tests, along with a 92 in his maiden innings as an opener, but his 112 against India today was different - a calibrated effort that shaped Sri Lanka's fighting reply to India's large total.

He was welcomed to the crease by a short one from Zaheer Khan that was called wide. The next two deliveries were bouncers; Dilshan tried to evade the second in an awkward manner and the ball hit his left shoulder. It was worthy of at least a wince; Dilshan merely narrowed his eyes and resumed the battle.

When Zaheer returned a few overs later for his second spell, Dilshan hit his first ball inside-out past cover to record his first four of the morning. It was hit so hard that Virender Sehwag injured his finger trying to stop it and had to leave the field. In between, though, he bided his time, resisting the temptation - and Zaheer's teasing game plan - to go for his shots. "They had a deep cover and deep square-leg straightaway and I felt the best thing to do was to go to the other end by knocking the ball down [for a single]," Dilshan said.

It dovetailed with Sri Lanka's strategy; having dismissed the dangerous Rahul Dravid and the tail in the first hour to take the morning's honours, they needed a good platform. And for that Dilshan had to assume control given that Tharanga Paranavitana, though 27, was playing his seventh Test.

All the while he also had to deal with two of his Delhi Daredevils team-mates, Gautam Gambhir and Amit Mishra, who kept taunting him to take them on. "Don't hit and run to me, I'm quick enough" Gambhir told Dilshan. When Mishra failed to tempt Dilshan, he tried a verbal route. "I told him this is not Twenty20, this is a Test and I want to keep going," Dilshan said.

At 33, Dilshan's life is evolving at a faster rate than when he started out a decade ago. Mostly under-used at No.6, the new leadership under Kumar Sangakkara decided he'd be better suited to open - prompted, no doubt, by his fast scoring-rate that could help the middle order. He's probably the most unorthodox opener in Test cricket, perhaps more so than Virender Sehwag, and it's that different approach that has troubled the bowlers and made them change their plans.

Today, for instance, Harbhajan Singh, Indian's premier spinner, was forced to deliver mostly from around the wicket to Dilshan to stop him from stepping out and hitting hard in front of the square. If Harbhajan thought he could capitalise on Dilshan's weakness - his inability to sweep convincingly - the batsman had alternative plans; when he did not step out and push it firmly through the narrow divide between midwicket and mid-on, he would wait for the ball and then pull or flick it. And through the day he avoided his trademark scoop over the keeper's head that made him famous during the ICC World Twenty20 earlier in the year, when he was the Player of the Series.

During that tournament, in England, he hit three half-centuries and topped the run charts with 317 at 52 with a strike-rate of 144. But his Test strike rate has been peaking too: since 2005 it has climbed up to 72 (behind only Sehwag) and his average to 51 (his career average is 43).

After reaching three figures Sangakkara, Dilshan's on-field partner, advised him "Just don't throw the wicket, keep going." "I was trying to play the cut and he asked me to play straighter and don't throw your wicket. Unfortunately that didn't happen," Dilshan said. He eventually fell to Zaheer off yet another short one, the final act of an enthralling battle that had run through the day. He would have been cursing his impetuosity but as he walked off he knew that he'd allowed his team to reach a position from where they could build a lead of 150-odd, vital on a pitch expected to take turn on the final two days.