Dravid, who made 115 in the second Test, finished on 110 not out as India, looking for a way back into the four-match series, closed on 236 for two after opting to bat.
Dravid added 170 for the second wicket with Sanjay Bangar and a comfortable 51 for the third with Sachin Tendulkar who, back at Headingley after spending a season with Yorkshire 10 years ago, was unbeaten on 18.
Dravid, who averages over 50 in Tests and has now made 12 centuries, is a fine strokeplayer as well as a man with the most organised of defences.
Thursday was all about the latter and batting England out of the game rather than pleasing crowds.
It was slow but effective. Dravid, who batted six and a half hours, laid the foundations perfectly for his team of strokemakers after Virender Sehwag’s early departure.
Sehwag, a player more attuned to cavalry charges than trench warfare, was tempted by a Matthew Hoggard outswinger in the overcast conditions and edged the ball into Andrew Flintoff’s bucket-like hands at second slip to make it 15 for one.
England’s quicks, however, repeated the errors of the drawn second Test as they failed to capitalise on an early breakthrough by bowling too wide and too short.
The rest of the morning and afternoon turned into a war of attrition, the scoring rate barely creeping over two an over as India consolidated cautiously while barely offering a chance.
England, 1-0 up in the four-match series, continued to attack with six men in their slip cordon and later brought in two short-leg fielders to try and unsettle Bangar.
The all-rounder, though, making his first appearance of the series and playing only his sixth Test, maintained his concentration during his five-hour 68 after being asked to open.
He reached his half-century with a scampered single off Alex Tudor, although he would have been out had Michael Vaughan’s throw from cover hit the stumps.
He was offered another life on 53, badly dropped at second slip by Flintoff off Tudor before responding with his two best shots, back-foot and front-foot off-side boundaries in one over from left-arm spinner Ashley Giles.
Bangar finally gloved Flintoff down the leg-side to wicket-keeper Alec Stewart to make it 185 for two.
The exemplary Dravid was also almost run out early in his innings and had a reprieve when on 40, surviving a Hoggard lbw appeal. Otherwise he did not put a foot wrong, though, his best shot an extra-cover drive off Hoggard that singed the grass on the way to the boards.
Thursday may not have been electrifying — 396 runs were scored in one day in the previous Test — but Dravid’s application promised greater excitement Friday.
During the last Test, he put on 163 with Tendulkar and 135 with his captain Saurav Ganguly.
Dravid and Tendulkar will resume intent on a repeat, with Ganguly sitting in the pavilion, padded up and eager to pick up the pace.
Scoreboard
INDIA (1st Innings):
S.B. Bangar c Stewart b Flintoff 68
V. Sehwag c Flintoff b Hoggard 8
R.S. Dravid not out 110
S.R. Tendulkar not out 18
EXTRAS (B-12, LB-7, NB-13) 32
TOTAL (for two wkts, 90 overs) 236
FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-185.
TO BAT: S.C. Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman, A.B. Agarkar, P.A. Tael, Harbhajan Singh, A.R. Kumble, Zaheer Khan.
BOWLING (to-date): Hoggard 22-8-48-1 (3nb); Caddick 21-5-51-0 (4nb); Tudor 21-10-49-0 (3nb); Flintoff 14-3-34-1 (2nb); Giles 12-2-34-0.
ENGLAND: M.P. Vaughan, R.W.T. Key, M.A. Butcher, N. Hussain, J.P. Crawley, A.J. Stewart, A. Flintoff, A.J. Tudor, A.F. Giles, A.R. Caddick, M.J. Hoggard.
UMPIRES: E.A.R. de Silva (Sri Lanka) and D.L. Orchard (South Africa).
TV UMPIRE: P. Willey (England).
MATCH REFEREE: C.H. Lloyd (West Indies).—Reuters