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.

There was sweetly timed driving and dogged defence in equal measure, as he looked to survive one session at a time. The best shot of his innings was the cover-drive against Monty Panesar that pierced short cover and short extra cover and left the mid-off and wide cover fielder with nothing to do other than retrieve it.

Dravid reached his much-awaited fifty at the brink of tea break, off 151 balls with six boundaries, and then helped Gambhir through in overcast conditions.

Gambhir was vocal in his praise for Dravid at the end of the day. “The way he tackled the seam bowling was amazing. I hope his knock here will boost his confidence. He has scored over 10,000 runs in Test cricket, his records speaks of his talent. He is a legend,” he said.