Shikhar Dhawan struck a hundred in familiar surroundings of white ball cricket on a flat deck as India scored 285 for seven against Hong Kong in their Asia Cup group league opener on Tuesday.
Left-handed Dhawan, who had a horrendous tour of England due to serious technical deficiency on seaming tracks, cashed in on the chance against a weaker opposition on a low and slow continental pitch, smashing 127 off 120 balls.
Dhawan hit as many as 15 boundaries and two sixes en route his 14th ODI century but the slowness of the track meant that India failed to cross the 300-run mark against the minnows.
Together with comeback man Ambati Rayudu (60), Dhawan stitched 116 runs for the second wicket off 130 deliveries, to lay the foundation for India's total after the early dismissal of skipper Rohit Sharma (23).
Sent into bat, India lost Rohit with the scoreboard reading 45 in 7.4 overs but Dhawan and Rayudu joined hands to share a century stand during their chanceless knocks.
Returning to the side after clearing the YoYo test, Rayudu grabbed the opportunity with both hands and hit three boundaries and two sixes during his 70-ball knock.
But just when it seemed the duo would take the opposition to the cleaners, Rayudu edged a Ehsan Nawaz bouncer to Scott McKechnie behind the stumps, trying an upper cut.
After the end of Dhawan-Rayudu partnership, the Indian batsmen found the going tough against slow bowlers of Hong Kong, on a relatively slow pitch, where shot making is not easy for a new batsman.
Dhawan and next man Dinesh Karthik (33) then shared 79 runs for the third wicket to take the side forward before Hong Kong picked up three quick wickets to put brakes on India's scoring rate.
Dhawan himself wasted a golden opportunity to score a big hundred, holing out to Tanwir Afzal off off-spinner Kinchit Shah's (3/39) bowling in the 41st over.
Talismanic Mahendra Singh Dhoni's stay at the crease was limited to three deliveries as he failed to gauge the slowness of the pitch and edged one to McKechnie off off-spinner Ehsan Khan (2/65) in the next over.
As if that was not enough, Karthik too gave away his wicket while trying to go for a big shot on a slow wicket, caught at deep mid-wicket to Babar Hayat off Shah.
Towards the end, Kedar Jadhav made a 27-ball 28 but he too found shot-making difficult because of the the slow nature of the pitch.
In fact, Hong Kong bowled brilliantly in the last 10 overs as India scored just 48 runs losing five wickets.
