Heaping praise on Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his brilliant unbeaten 116, Indian skipper Rahul Dravid said the knock was one of best that he had witnessed in a long time.

"This is one of the best attacking innings that I've seen in a long, long time," Dravid said at the end of the day's play.

"He played under pressure and he attacked courageously. Not only that he also batted sensibly with Irfan Pathan to put up a solid partnership.

"It was a great innings. And I'm sure it will give him a lot of confidence." Looking ahead to the Test Dravid said there were another 180 overs left in the game, which was long enough.

"It's even-stevens at the moment but there's a long way to go." Dravid also defended Yuvraj Singh who failed to make an impression at a crucial stage of the innings.

Also Read Dhoni is my hero: Kapil

"He has made a mistake! We all make mistakes. He will learn from it. He's got the talent and we just need to give him the opportunity," he said.

Justifying his selection in the team, Dravid said that Yuvraj has played an important role in the recent past.

"He's a very good cricketer which is why we've picked him. He got two crucial 70's at crucial stages in Tests and he also took the Man of the Series in the one-day series." Talking about his 197-run stand with VVS Laxman, Dravid said he was very pleased.

"My stand with Laxman was very crucial. It calmed everyone's nerve in the dressing room and it set the tone for the day, although we did lose a few wickets in the afternoon. Unfortunately, both of us got out just before the second new ball.

"However, I was very pleased. And we made a good start to the day." Asked what he thought about Sachin Tendulkar's decision to walk, Dravid said it was an 'instinctive decision'.

"Sometimes you walk and sometimes you don't. It happened so quickly that perhaps even Sachin didn't know.

"It's not about walking or not walking in an India-Pakistan match. It's just that players sometimes walk instinctively."

- UNI