The slight chill in the air makes Mohali the ideal setting for a relaxed evening stroll, though it still surprised many when Rahul Dravid, escorted by two security guards, decided to clear his mind with a walk around the Sector-17 market on Thursday. Dravid did some window shopping, made a quick dash to a restaurant and emerged five minutes later — even at the net session on the eve of the second Test, the body language looked good.

There’s been a dramatic change in the last twenty-four hours in the lead up to the game; the man who walked late into nets on Wednesday with his head hung low, tentative in his batting and suspicious about the wicket, and Dravid on Thursday morning, joking with VVS Laxman and Sehwag at the nets, and jibing at Yuvraj, looked two sides of a split personality.

On Friday morning, with Virender Sehwag dismissed early, Dravid walked into a situation he is familiar with. He started cautiously, and a nervous pull off James Anderson flew straight up in the air, before falling in between deep fine-leg and square-leg. A few overs later, another short ball was dispatched to the boundary — his first of seven on the day.

That shot seemed to wash away any uneasiness the batsman might have been feeling, as he worked his way to an unbeaten 65 off 205 balls.

While Gambhir might have been the in-form batsman, Dravid’s game was made for the situation. What made his knock special — apart from the fact that he was under increasing pressure to score — was that he got it at his customary position, and in his own trademark style of wearing the opposition out.

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