Dream year continues for Dilshan

Tillakaratne Dilshan became the first Sri Lankan to score a century in India since 1997 (and fifth overall), to go with Sri Lanka's good bowling start to the second day to give the visitors the upper hand in the Ahmedabad Test.

It was a remarkable knock from Dilshan. It was not all slam bang: his boundary shots were blocked by India, but he displayed the other aspect of his game - placing the ball and scampering through for runs.

It seemed MS Dhoni thought Dilshan played only one game, and gave Zaheer Khan a deep point, a deep fine leg and a deep square leg in the first over. Zaheer started with three back-to-back bouncers, hitting the batsman with one of them. But Dilshan refused to be rattled, twice in the first three overs taking singles hitting marginally to the right of Ishant Sharma at mid-on.

Dilshan played the more unconventional shots - the inside-out drives against Harbhajan's offbreaks. Zaheer came back for a spell before tea, and was welcomed by a drive through extra cover and a clever nudge to the third man boundary, which took Dilshan to 78 off just 87 deliveries. The first ball he faced after tea summed up his innings. He stepped out to Mishra who bowled from round the stumps, was beaten in the flight, yet he made room and drove him through extra cover: intent, resourcefulness, and natural skill all in one shot. This century was his third 50-plus score in three innings in Ahmedabad.

After tea, Zaheer found immediate results. Dilshan looked to hook but was cramped by the angle from round the stumps but he had put Sri Lanka on course to a strong reply.