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Thursday, June 14, 2018

Shikhar Dhawan Joins Elite Club of Centurions Before Lunch on Day 1 Thursday June 14,2018

Shikhar Dhawan joined a select band of players to score a century before lunch on Day 1 of a Test.

Shikhar Dhawan's 87-ball century was the first by an Indian batsman in the first session of a Test as he became the sixth batsman overall to do so in the history of the longest format.

Before Dhawan today, Virender Sehwag became close to becoming the first Indian to score scoring a hundred before lunch when he blasted 99 off 75 on the first day of the 2nd Test against West Indies at St Lucia in June 2006. 

 India opted to bat first as Afghanistan got a taste of Test cricket and the hosts they gave them a reality check, sprinting to 158/0 in 27 overs when the lunch break was taken.

With this, Dhawan also joined an elite list consisting of Australia's Victor Trumper , Charlie Macartney and Don Bradman. Pakistan's Majid Khan and David Warner are the other two players in the elite list.

Shikhar Dhawan started aggressively from the word go, taking the attack to an inexperienced Afghanistan attack even as Murali Vijay struggled to get going.

He was particularly brutal on Afghanistan spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, using his feet against them and finding boundaries at will. Rashid had figures 0/59 after his 8 overs, meanwhile Mujeeb's figures read 0/32 after 4 overs, with Dhawan doing the maximum damage. He scored 19 boundaries and cleared the rope thrice.

It was Dhawan's seventh century overall as he gave India a blistering start against Afghanistan in the one-off Test. 

He became the first Indian to score a hundred before Lunch on the first day of a test match and the second Indian after Hardik Pandya to score a hundred before lunch on other days. Pandya scored 108 against Sri Lanka at Pallekele in 2017.

Shikhar Dhawan was finally dismissed for 107 off just 96 balls by Yamin Ahmadzai

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