Sachin Tendulkar was threatening to make England pay for dropping him on 20 as India finished the first day of the third and final Test on 316-4 at the Oval on Thursday.
Tendulkar was 48 not out and VVS Laxman 20 not out following an impressive 91 from opener Dinesh Karthik.
Tendulkar should have been back in the pavilion when he edged Ryan Sidebottom to wicket-keeper Matt Prior when India were on 245-3.
But Prior, who conceded 21 byes on the opening day, let the straightforward chance spill despite getting both hands to the ball.
India, 1-0 up, had merely to avoid defeat in this match to win only their third series in England in 15 campaigns dating back to 1932.
England, by contrast, had to win to maintain their six-year unbeaten run in home Test series.
”We came back pretty well. It’s a flat wicket and you have to get stuck in, bowl maidens and squeeze out wickets,” said England’s Andrew Strauss.
”We stuck at it pretty well. Hopefully we’ll bowl them out for about 400 and look to get a big score ourselves.
”In the first session we didn’t hit our straps as well as we could have done and after that it was just a case of hitting the right length and waiting for a false stroke.
”We had to be patient because if we became impatient that would play to their strengths.”
It seemed as if India, whose captain Rahul Dravid won the toss on a belting batting pitch, were threatening to put the game beyond England’s reach before the first day ended when they were 189-1.
But England, with James Anderson taking two wickets, fought back to have India 211-3 at tea. Tendulkar was two not out and Sourav Ganguly eight not out in what could be both players’ last Test in England.
Left-arm spinner Monty Panesar then saw Tendulkar, his childhood hero, strike him over extra-cover for four. Ganguly later drove Panesar for a straight six.
Tendulkar’s escape came in the 67th over.
It was bad miss by Prior, whose footwork while keeping, and fondness for sledging, have both been criticised this series.
”You have to take it on the chin and move on,” said Strauss.
”Hopefully, Matty will take a few flyers on Friday. We all know what it’s like to drop a catch. You feel as if you have let yourself and your teammates down.”
Medium-pacer Paul Collingwood was brought on shortly before the new ball was taken and he struck with his 12th delivery when Ganguly was given out lbw for 37, despite the former India skipper getting a thick inside edge onto his pad.
It was a poor decision by South African umpire Ian Howell, standing in just his ninth Test in six years, and Ganguly did well to manage no more than a rueful smile as he walked off following a stand of 77 with Tendulkar.
India were then 276-4.
They had resumed after lunch on 117-1 with Karthik 50 not out and Dravid 25 not out.
In the second over after the break Karthik, on 58, gave a sharp chance when he was dropped at short extra-cover by Andrew Strauss following a drive off Panesar.
Dravid, who in India’s last Test at the Oval five years ago scored 217, responded to England counterpart Michael Vaughan’s decision to post two fielders close in at short extra-cover by driving Panesar between the pair of them for four.
He went on to complete an 82-ball fifty with eight fours. But a stand of 127 was ended when Dravid, on 55, was bowled by Anderson’s yorker.
No India batsman has so far made a hundred in this series but it seemed as if Karthik, whose lone Test century came against minnows Bangladesh earlier this year, was about to end that sequence.
But nine runs short he played at a ball angled across him from Sidebottom and Prior held the straightforward chance.
India had now seen 189-2 become 199-3. Karthik faced 151 balls with one six and 10 fours.
Wasim Jaffer was first out, caught following an uppercut for a dashing 35 when going well by Kevin Pietersen at third man off Anderson, having previously cut the bowler for six in the same region. — AFP
