#ThisDayThatYear: Shikhar Dhawan reaches this historic feat in Bengaluru
On this day in 2018, Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan achieved a historic feat in Test cricket. He became the first Indian batsman to score a century before lunch on Day 1 of a Test match. The Indian opener reached the milestone during India's one-off Test against Afghanistan at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Here is how the match panned out.
India piled up 474 in the first innings
Batting first, India posted a mammoth 474 in the first innings. Both Murali Vijay (105) and Shikhar Dhawan (107) scored a ton as they tormented the Afghanistan bowling attack. However, the latter's 107-run knock grabbed eyeballs as he batted in a rather attacking manner. Afghanistan's premier spinner Rashid Khan was smashed for 154 runs, though he snapped up two wickets.
Afghanistan were bowled out twice on Day 2
Afghanistan's innings was folded on 109 inside 28 overs. No batsman besides Mohammad Nabi (24) looked comfortable against Indian bowlers. Ravichandran Ashwin picked up four wickets, while Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma scalped two apiece. Following-on in the second innings, the visitors were bundled out for 103. As a result, Team India clinched victory by an innings and 262 runs.
The Afghanistan batting line-up failed as a unit
Dhawan and Vijay scored a total of 212 runs (105 and 107) in the first innings, while the whole Afghanistan team could muster as many runs in the entire match. And, the former was named the Player of the Match for his blistering innings.
First Indian player to slam ton in the first session
Dhawan's 107 off 96 balls was studded with 19 fours and 3 sixes. The southpaw became the first Indian batsman and sixth overall (after Victor Trumper, Charles Macartney, Don Bradman, Majid Khan and David Warner), to score a century before lunch on Day 1 of a Test match. Interestingly, Dhawan became the third player to have achieved this distinction, in the last 80 years.
