By IANS
London : Chasing 500 to win the third Test and level the series, England closed the fourth day at 56 for no wicket in the third and final Test against India here Sunday.
India gave England a total of 110 overs to get those runs, and 20 of them were bowled on the penultimate day, leaving the hosts to score 444 more, at 4.93 runs per over, Monday to win the match and draw the series 1-1.
At close of play, Andrew Strauss was at the crease on 23 and Alastair Cook was on 27 in 20 overs of batting.
Earlier in the day, India decided against enforcing the follow-on despite England being 319 runs behind in the first innings. Replying to India’s first-innings’ 664, England were all out for 345 with in-form Zaheer Khan and leg-spinner Anil Kumble taking three wickets each.
India declared their second innings at 180 for six wickets, with Sourav Ganguly making a fine 57 (68 balls, 9x4s). V.V.S. Laxman (46 not out, 86 balls, 4x4s) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (36, 64 balls, 4x4s) chipped in with meaningful but slow-paced runs.
Dhoni was lucky to get a reprieve at 11 when Cook at silly point dropped his catch with the total at 114 for five.
India’s decision to bat instead of enforcing the follow-on, ostensibly to give some rest to their bowlers and avoid batting on a deteriorating fifth-day Brit Kennington Oval pitch, gave hint of negative tactics.
At least, Ravi Shastri, a former India captain, felt so. He said that if the series were levelled 0-0 going into the third Test India would have “gone for the kill” Sunday.
Captain Rahul Dravid batted very slowly, scoring 12 off 96 balls (1×4). But his predicament could be understood from the fact that after India had dismissed the last England wicket in seven overs his team lost the first three wickets for a mere 11 runs.
With Dinesh Karthik (8), Wasim Jaffer (0) and Sachin Tendulkar (1) back in the pavilion, it was natural for Dravid to bat slow.
Team manager Chandu Border solved the mystery to an extent when he disclosed after the day’s play that he had told Dravid to “keep on end going”.
England bowlers, on the other hand, bowled a positive line and aggressive line. They attacked the batsmen and the fielders backed them to the hilt.
Now, the ball is in England’s court. If they want to make a match of it they will have to accept the challenge and go for the stiff target from the start on the fifth and final day.
With Sreesanth not improving his line and length much Sunday, India would again look up to Zaheer to unleash his left-arm magic and give them early breakthroughs.
A few wickets more Monday will make Zaheer a front runner for the Man-of-the-Series award.
SCOREBOARD
Day 3, Third Test, India vs. England, Brit Kennigton Oval, London
India (1st innings): 664
England (1st innings, overnight 326/9):
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 not out 25
Monty Panesar lbw b Kumble 9
Extras: (byes 16, leg byes 12, wides 10, no balls 11) 49
Total: (all out in 103.1 overs) 345
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 29.1 7 94 3 (4nb)
Rudra Pratap Singh 18 3 72 1 (3w)
Sourav Ganguly 5 1 8 0 (1w)
Sachin Tendulkar 7 0 26 1
V.V.S. Laxman 1 0 5 0
India (2nd innings):
Dinesh Karthik c Collingwood b Tremlett 8
Wasim Jaffer lbw b Anderson 0
Rahul Dravid c Strauss b Collingwood 12
Sachin Tendulkar b Anderson 1
Sourav Ganguly c Strauss b Collingwood 57
V.V.S. Laxman not out 46
Monty Dhoni c Prior b Tremlett 36
Anil Kumble not out 8
Extras: (b 1, lb 5, nb 6) 12
Total: (for 6 wickets decl. in 58 overs) 180
Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Jaffer, 2.2 overs), 2-10 (Karthik, 3.6), 3-11 (Tendulkar, 6.5), 4-76 (Ganguly, 28.5), 5-89 (Dravid, 34.4), 6-158 (Dhoni, 54.6)
Bowling:
James Anderson 15 8 34 2
Chris Tremlett 15 2 58 2 (5nb)
Paul Collingwood 10 1 24 2 (1nb)
Monty Panesar 18 1 58 0
England (2nd innings):
Andrew Strauss batting 23
Alastair Cook batting 27
Extras: (lb 3, w 3) 6
Total: (for no wicket in 20 overs) 56
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 6 0 15 0 (2w)
Sreesanth 5 3 5 0 (1w)
Anil Kumble 5 1 21 0
Rudra Pratap Singh 3 1 6 0
Sachin Tendulkar 1 0 6 0
Umpires: Steve Bucknor (Australia) and Ian Howell (South Africa)
TV umpire: Peter Hartley (England)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)