By IANS
London : England were on the verge of being asked to follow-on by India who might already be sniffing a win at the end of the third day of the third and final Test here Saturday.
England, chasing India’s 664, were 326 for nine wickets and would need 139 runs to avoid the follow-on on the penultimate day Sunday at Brit Kennington Oval. Overall, England are 338 runs behind India’s total.
At close, Chris Tremlett was batting on 18 and Monty Panesar had not opened his account yet.
Rahul Dravid’s side is leading the series 1-0 and a win, or simply a draw, here will give India their first series win in England since 1986.
Three English batsmen — Alastair Cook (61, 98 balls, 11x4s), Paul Collingwood (62, 120 balls, 9x4s) and Ian Bell (63, 96 balls, 11x4s) – hit half-centuries.
Left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan was the pick of the Indian bowlers with three wickets. Sreesanth, who bowled much better than his erratic line in the second Test, and leg-spinner Anil Kumble, India’s lone centurion in the series so far, took two wickets each.
Sachin Tendulkar took the prized scalp of the dangerous Kevin Pieterson (41, 107 balls, 4x4s) and left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh dismissed night watchman James Anderson.
Pieterson tired to whack Tendulkar’s very first delivery, a leg spinner pitched outside the off stump, but managed to edge the ball into the hands of lone slip fielder Dravid.
The English batsmen did not bat too badly, but when their efforts are seen against the huge Indian total they look insufficient. Like their Indian counterparts, the English batsmen also were involved in some fine partnerships Saturday. What the home side needed was still bigger partnerships.
The pitch still looks good for batting, as Dravid said after the day’s play.
It now remains to be seen how quickly Indian bowlers take the last wicket — and then decide whether to enforce the follow-on or bat a while to give the bowlers some rest and then have a go in the fourth innings.
If India do decide against enforcing the follow-on, the pitch might deteriorate a bit more in the latter part of the fourth day and the fifth.
Dravid, for now, is keeping his cards close to his chest. He said as much when asked whether he would enforce the follow-on or give his bowlers some rest after a long and hard day in office Saturday.
SCOREBOARD
Day 3, Third Test, India vs. England, Brit Kennigton Oval, London
India (1st innings): 664
England (1st innings, overnight 24/1):
Andrew Strauss c Sreesanth b Khan 6
Alastair Cook c Singh b Kumble 61
James Anderson lbw b Singh 16
Michael Vaughan c and b Kumble 11
Kevin Pietersen c Dravid b Tendulkar 41
Paul Collingwood lbw b Sreesanth 62
Ian Bell c Dhoni b Khan 63
Matt Prior c Tendulkar b Sreesanth 0
Ryan Sidebottom c and b Khan 2
Chris Tremlett batting 18
Monty Panesar batting 0
Extras: (byes 16, leg byes 10, wides 10, no balls 10) 46
Total: (for nine wickets in 96 overs) 326
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Strauss, 4.1 overs), 2-78 (Anderson, 19.4), 3-119 (Cook, 31.2), 4-124 (Vaughan, 33.3), 5-202 (Pietersen, 60.1), 6-288 (Collingwood, 81.6), 7-303 (Bell, 86.2), 8-305 (Sidebottom, 86.6), 9-305 (Prior, 89.2)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 22 13 32 3
Sreesanth 21 2 80 2 (5nb, 2w)
Anil Kumble 26 7 86 2 (3nb)
Rudra Pratap Singh 14 1 63 1 (3w)
Sourav Ganguly 5 1 8 0 (1w)
Sachin Tendulkar 7 0 26 1
V.V.S. Laxman 1 0 5 0
Umpires: Steve Bucknor (Australia) and Ian Howell (South Africa)
TV umpire: Peter Hartley (England)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)