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.