India took four wickets with the new ball to compound England’s dire position in the third and final Test at the Oval on Saturday.
England, at stumps on the third day, were 326-9 in reply to India’s 664 — their record Test innings total against England.
That left the home side 338 runs behind and still needing 139 more runs to avoid the follow-on.
Left-arm quick Zaheer Khan led the India attack with miserly figures of 3-32 off 22 overs, his team taking eight wickets in the day and 4-17 runs in the first nine overs with the new ball.
India captain Rahul Dravid, whose side are 1-0 up and on the brink of becoming only the third India team to win a Test series in England following the 1-0 and 2-0 triumphs of their 1971 and 1986 predecessors respectively, was coy when asked if he would enforce the follow-on.
”I’ll keep those cards close to my chest,” Dravid told reporters.
”For us to get eight wickets today was a credit to the bowlers. They’ve backed up some good batting with a fantastic bowling display.”
India’s efforts left England with a huge task in trying to preserve their six-year unbeaten run in home Test series.
Several England batsmen made it past 60 but none was able to go on to get a hundred, which would have formed the basis of a big score.
At stumps, Chris Tremlett was 18 not out and last man Monty Panesar nought not out.
England at tea were 210-5 after Kevin Pietersen was out for 41 when, trying to drive Sachin Tendulkar’s first ball, he edged a sharply turning leg-break and was caught at slip by an elated Dravid just before the break
”Kevin’s an important player for England, he’s not an easy man to get out once he gets set,” said Dravid. ”We’d fought really hard in that session and not got a wicket between lunch and tea.
”It’s something that comes off some times. You need a bit of luck and we had a bit of luck today [Saturday].”
Paul Collingwood, who made 62 before becoming the first England batsman to fall to the new ball, said: ”Everybody in the dressing room thinks the game can be saved. There’s two days left and we’ll show a lot of fight.
”A few of us got fifties and it was disappointing that none of us went on to get the big hundred the innings needed.”
Collingwood, paying tribute to the performance of the India attack on a flat pitch, added: ”You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the Indian bowlers. They’ve swung the ball around both ways pretty much all day. The control they’ve shown has been excellent.
”I guess being brought up on Indian wickets, you do have to have that variety on the flat pitches there. It’s very hard to line bowlers up when they are swinging it both ways.”
Collingwood, 34 not out at tea, completed a 90-ball fifty with Ian Bell reaching the landmark in 77 deliveries.
However, a stand worth 86 was ended by the sixth delivery with the new ball when Collingwood was lbw to fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth.
It was not long before 288-6 became 305-8 with Khan taking two wickets in five balls to dismiss Bell (63) and Ryan Sidebottom.
England wicket-keeper Matt Prior, who’d conceded 33 byes when India batted, was then out for nought when he guided Sreesanth to first slip Tendulkar.
Earlier, leg-spinner Anil Kumble continued to be a thorn in England’s side.
The 36-year-old, whose 110 not out on Friday was his maiden Test hundred and the first century by an India batsman this series, removed both Alastair Cook and England captain Michael Vaughan.
Cook, who’d been dropped twice off legside shots, fell for 61.
The 22-year-old left-handed opener, trying to turn Kumble to the on-side, got a leading edge and was caught by Rudra Pratap Singh, running round from mid-off. Cook faced 98 balls with 11 fours.
Kumble, in his 118th Test, moved into joint third place on 563 wickets with retired Australia quick Glenn McGrath in the list of Test cricket’s most successful bowlers when he caught and bowled Vaughan for 11 off the last ball before lunch. — AFP
