in march 2006, he was recalled to the test team in place of the injured yuvraj singh for the first test against england in nagpur. despite top-scoring with a dogged 91 to save the test match, he was omitted for the following match when yuvraj had recovered his fitness. but he found a place in the four tests in the west indies, after sachin tendulkar was injured. he hit 148 not out in the second test, his maiden test century.