India were struggling at 65-3 after electing to bat in the day-night match on a slow pitch before Dravid pulled his team out of trouble with his ninth hundred.

Dravid, who scored a run-a-ball half-century, took just 40 deliveries more to reach the three-figure mark. He hit eight fours in his 93-ball knock.

He was involved in two useful stands, adding 88 for the fourth wicket with skipper Sourav Ganguly (55) and 59 for the sixth with Mohammad Kaif (32 not out).

Ganguly was dropped twice early in the innings, including off the first ball in the slips, and then survived a confident appeal for leg-before before completing a chancy half-century.

The UAE, playing their first major one-day international since the 1996 World Cup, bowled tight in the initial overs to put their more experienced rivals in a spot. New-ball bowlers Asim Saeed and Ali Asad never allowed the Indians to dominate.

The famed Indian batting looked rusty in the season's first match as Virender Sehwag was run out for a third-ball duck following a mix-up with Sachin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar also did not last long as he was caught at short mid-wicket by a diving Fahad Usman off left-arm seamer Saeed, who earned 1,000 dollars offered by team officials for claiming the scalp of the master batsman.

Laxman pulled Saeed for a six and then drove for a four in the same over before offering a simple return catch to off-spinner Mohammad Tauqir.