Shikhar Dhawan is a "throws his wicket away for nothing" or "plays a delightful, match-winning, oh-that's-why-he-was-picked innings" batsman. You either get the brilliant from him or the dismal. Thankfully for India, the brilliant version of Dhawan showed up on day one morning of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.
With Dhawan and Abhinav Mukund automatically selected as the openers after KL Rahul was ruled out through illness, it was down to the two left-handers to show why they must be selected for the rest of the series.
And while Dhawan was in smooth as silk, caressing the ball to the boundaries form, Mukund looked well out of his depth, yet again, in Test match cricket.
In the openers contest, Dhawan (190, 168b, 31x4), only in the India touring party after Murali Vijay was ruled out through injury, won hands down, and with plenty of style too.
From the moment he played a straight bat push for a single off the first ball of the day, you felt this was going to be Dhawan's day. Everything was coming off the middle; the confidence, gained from his impressive ODI comeback, was evident and the left-hander looked like he was in the zone, the kind of zone he was in when he scored that ridiculous debut hundred against Australia.
There was the one blemish, albeit a big one, when he was dropped by Asela Gunaratne at second slip, while he was on just 31 – a drop that also ended Gunaratne's interest in the match with the Sri Lankan suffering a broken thumb in the process – but that life was no more than what he deserved.
Along with Cheteshwar Pujara, who was equally impressive at the other end, Dhawan took India to such a position of strength that they will have to do something spectacular to lose the Test match from here.
Yes, it was a really good pitch to bat on, with the Sri Lankan bowlers given very little to work with, but the manner in which Dhawan and Pujara took advantage of the conditions was something to admire.
Even when the spinners came on, there were no half-measures. Dhawan, in particular, was quick to use his feet to both Dilruwan Perera and Rangana Herath, and he used it quite effectively, hitting the slower bowlers for plenty of boundaries.
After India went into Lunch on 115/1, the plan for Sri Lanka would have been to try and gain some control, stop the leakage of runs and through that pick up a wicket or two.
However, Dhawan had other plans. The left-hander, if anything, upped the ante in the second session, quickly gathering the 36 runs that were needed to complete a fantastic century, off just 110 balls, before continuing the assault from there to score over a hundred runs in just one session as the Galle crowd were treated to an innings that was as elegant as it was brutal.
He eventually fell, minutes before Tea to Nuwan Pradeep, the only Sri Lankan bowler who looked capable of picking up wickets, but by then, the platform was well and truly set for India, who went into the break with 282 runs on the board.
