Dhawan becomes first Indian to score a ton before lunch on Day 1 of a Test match

Dhawan became the first Indian player to score a century in Test cricket before lunch, joining an esteemed list of former cricketers, including the legendary Don Bradman.

There were question marks on Shikhar Dhawan’s availability after the left-hander had a curtailed net session on the eve of the historic Test match. About 18 hours later, Dhawan not only opened the batting but also became the first Indian player and only the sixth in the world to score a century in Test cricket before lunch, joining an esteemed list of former cricketers, including the legendary Don Bradman.

The explosive Indian opener hammered 19 fours and 3 sixes as he reached his century in 91 balls on the opening day of the historic India-Afghanistan Test match at Chinnaswamy stadium.

He became the sixth player in the world to score a century before lunch. It was Dhawan's 7th Test century in 30 matches.

Last year, Australia's dashing opener David Warner scored 100 not out before lunch against Pakistan.

Other five players who achieved this milestone in the past are Victor Trumper (103 not out before lunch) against England in 1902, Charlie Macartney (112 not out) against England in 1926, Bradman (105 not out) against England in 1930, Majid Khan (108 not out) against New Zealand in 1976.

Before Dhawan, the previous record for best score for India in the first session was held by Virender Sehwag, who had scored 99 runs in St Lucia against West Indies in 2006. Sehwag interestingly, appears three in the list of most runs by an Indian before lunch on the first day’s play.