Rahul Dravid played the English County Championship curtain-raiser, a match in which the pink ball was trialed, for MCC in 2011. (File Photo/Reuters) Rahul Dravid played the English County Championship curtain-raiser, a match in which the pink ball was trialed, for MCC in 2011. (File Photo/Reuters)

It was Virat Kohli who scored India’s first Test century in pink ball cricket, against Bangladesh in the Kolkata Test on Saturday, but the first Indian to score a century in a competitive match being played with the pink ball had been Rahul Dravid, in a match for MCC in 2011.

In 2011, Dravid had played the English County Championship curtain-raiser, a match in which the pink ball was trialed, for MCC against Nottinghamshire. The match had been played in Abu Dhabi.

Dravid had registered a two-ball duck in the first innings but came up with a century in the second innings. His 106 was the highest score of the match as the MCC won by a massive 174 runs. He had finally been out to Samit Patel.

The MCC team had also featured names such as Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi, Hamid Hassan, Australia’s Chris Rogers and England’s David Malan. Incidentally, the match had also been the first class debut for Jake Ball, who would later go on to play for England.

Dravid had a role to play in India’s preparations for the ongoing Day/Night Test as well. India batsman Mayank Agarwal had revealed earlier this month that Dravid had arranged a practice session with the pink ball during his time at the NCA, something that many of the players benefitted from before taking the field in an international match.

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Speaking about the pink ball, Dravid recently said, “It is a novelty that will attract people to the stadium and must be tried. But basic things like toilets, seating, car parking need to be looked into too.”

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