By IANS
London : Chasing 380 runs to win the first Test against England, India were 137 for three wickets in their second innings at close of the fourth and penultimate day of the match here Sunday. India now need 243 more to win.
Dinesh Karthik was batting on 56 – his fourth half-century — and Sourav Ganguly was on 36 at the draw of stumps at Lord's. Both have raised 53 runs so far for the unbroken fourth wicket partnership.
It promises to be an exciting fifth day Monday, when India will depend largely on Ganguly and Karthik to take them ashore, though V.V.S. Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are also left to bat besides the tail enders.
Earlier, England made 282 in their second innings, thanks largely to Kevin Pieterson's ninth century, a fine 134 (213 balls, 14x4s, 1×6) and wicket-keeper Matt Prior's 42 (61 balls, 5x4s).
Left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh took the first five-wicket haul of his career while Zaheer Khan bagged four. Leg-spinner Anil Kumble grabbed the other wicket.
Pieterson scored a fine century – his first against India – and indulged in unusually long celebration as he punched the air, and repeatedly waved towards the crowds and the England dressing room.
The 27-year-old batsman brought up his century in style, hitting Kumble for a four and then celebrated the occasion with a six off the leg-spinner.
It was his third century in four Test matches at Lord's. Another milestone Pietersen reached was that of scoring a century against each of the five countries he has played against.
Needless to emphasise that it was his century that helped England set India the eventual target of 380. The South African-born Pieterson was involved in a 119-run stand for the sixth wicket with Prior.
Pieterson was finally out when he dragged the ball onto his stumps while attempting a pull shot off Singh.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh's Singh dealt England three telling blows in 15 balls and conceding just 10 runs. The Barabanki-born bowler's victims were captain Michael Vaughan (30), Paul Collingwood (4) and Ian Bell (9).
These blows reduced England – overnight 77 for two — from 102 for two to 132 for five. But Pieterson kept one end going. He was unbeaten at 62 along with Prior (10) at lunch with England at 161 for five – an overall lead of 258.
Zaheer dismissed Prior and Chris Tremlett off successive balls, but missed a hat-trick as Ryan Sidebottom blocked the next ball, an attempted yorker. The Mumbai left-armer forced Prior to edge the ball to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and then castled debutant Tremlett.
Singh finished off the innings by having Monty Panesar leg before the wicket.
India started the victory chase by losing Wasim Jaffer (8) when the score was 38. Rahul Dravid failed for the second time in the match and when he left, lbw to Tremlett, the score was 55.
Then Panesar got the big wicket of Sachin Tendulkar (16), also leg before the wicket, and went delirious as he celebrated.
Ganguly joined Karthik and they steadied the ship and were unbeaten when stumps were drawn.
SCOREBOARD
Day 4, First Test, India vs. England, at Lord's, London
England (1st innings): 298
India (1st Innings): 201
England (2nd innings, overnight 77/2):
Andrew Staruss c Tendulkar b Khan 18
Alastair Cook lbw b Khan 17
Michael Vaughan b Singh 30
Kevin Pietersen b Singh 134
Paul Collingwood c Laxman b Singh 4
Ian Bell b Singh 9
Matt Prior c Dhoni b Khan 42
Chris Tremlett b Khan 0
Ryan Sidebottom c Dravid b Kumble 9
Monty Panesar lbw b Singh 3
James Anderson not out 4
Extras: (byes 9, leg byes 1, wide 2) 12
Total: (all out in 78.3 overs) 282
Fall of wickets: 1-40 (Strauss, 10.5 overs), 2-43 (Cook, 12.1), 3-102 (Vaughan, 35.6), 4-114 (Collingwood, 37.3), 5-132 (Bell, 41.2), 6-251 (Prior, 66.1), 7-251 (Tremlett, 66.2), 8-266 (Sidebottom, 71.1), 9-275 (Pietersen, 76.6)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 28 6 79 4 (1w)
Sreesanth 16 3 62 0
Rudra Pratap Singh 16.3 3 59 5 (1w)
Anil Kumble 17 3 70 1
Sachin Tendulkar 1 0 2 0
India (2nd innings):
Wasim Jaffer c Pietersen b Anderson 8
Dinesh Karthik batting 56
Rahul Dravid lbw b Tremlett 9
Sachin Tendulkar lbw b Panesar 16
Sourav Ganguly batting 36
Extras: (b 8, lb 3, nb 1) 12
Total: (for three wickets in 41 overs) 137
Fall of wickets: 1-38 (Jaffer, 10.3 overs), 2-55 (Dravid, 13.5), 3-84 (Tendulkar, 24.5)
Bowling:
Ryan Sidebottom 6 1 20 0
James Anderson 12 3 36 1
Chris Tremlett 10 1 29 1 (1nb)
Monty Panesar 13 2 41 1
Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Simon Taufel (Australia)
TV umpire: Ian Gould (England)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)