Related Links : India’s tour of England : Scorecard
England are off to a solid and an ideal start from their opening batsmen after having their backs against the wall facing a huge deficit. Surviving 16 overs towards the dying stage of a day’s play against a brand new cherry isn’t a good time but Strauss and Cook made it look simple as they knocked off 43 runs out of a 283-run deficit. With the batsmen delivering the goods, it’s now all upto the bowlers to seize the opportunity that has been created in the last three days as far as the Indians are concerned. It will however require some special bowling performances as English batsmen if set can make a mockery of all the efforts put in the last three days.
The first session of this third day’s play was supposed to be the most important one of this match and perhaps the series as well. The second new ball was due for England, they needed wickets having gone down minus 56 in their second innings. From India’s point of view, all that was required was negotiation of the new ball and of course consolidation. The second new ball looked dangerous with Ryan Sidebottom having Sachin Tendulkar all at sea. But the luck factor went with Tendulkar as he survived a tough spell from Sidebottom. At the other end, Sourav Ganguly was in no trouble at all, batting very smoothly and putting away the loose ones with his sweet timing. Ganguly even brought a hook shot out of nowhere to send a bouncer from the 6ft 8″ tall Chris Tremlett out of the ground at the square leg region. There were all the shots in the book coming from the blade of Ganguly except for perhaps the flicks which were played with good effect from Sachin Tendulkar. England had to rely on Monty but he was blasted for one of the best shots of the day with Tendulkar stepping down and smashing him over covers. India ruled the first session, not losing a single wicket and taking their score to 338 for 3.
And Tendulkar is Taufeled for 91!
Sachin Tendulkar was approaching a hundred at the start of the second session while Ganguly had just got to a confident half century before lunch. India were on a roller coaster ride and so thought Michael Vaughan as he opened the proceedings after lunch with the harmless Paul Collingwood. It was all fine for Tendulkar for the first five balls of the over, he is quite cautious once he is into the nineties and therefore the last ball of the over was tentatively padded away. A good stride forward and across to cover the off stump which was never threatened as the ball was never going to come back, there was an optimistic appeal from England and up went the finger! Sachin Tendulkar TAUFELED for 91! Tendulkar was shocked at the decision but did well in not going on to show his dissent. Nevertheless it was a very important innings of 91 that had come in 197 balls with a dozen fours. The partnership with Ganguly was 96 in about 31 overs.
Ganguly was joined by VVS Laxman with the lead moving onto 144. This pair had no trouble whatsoever in carrying on the good work done in the first session, it was the third consecutive half century stand put on by the Indians through this partnership! VVS Laxman dazzled with his classy drives, flicks and even the pull shot. Like Tendulkar, Ganguly as well got a rough decision from Umpire Simon Taufel, who clearly was having one of those bad days. Ganguly was given caught behind down the legside by the keeper when there was no deflection at all from the bat. The lucky bowler was James Anderson. Ganguly was baffled at the decision, so much so that he even gestured towards the Umpire almost like question his decision which could land him into the Principal aka the Match Referee’s room. Ganguly might be fined but being a very rich man he wouldn’t give a damn about losing some of his money, more so after getting satisfied with a good knock of 79. Ganguly’s 79 came in 156 balls with 10 fours and a six that took India to 409 for 5.
At 409 for 5, the license was there for MS Dhoni to get some fireworks going to rub the salt in the English wounds. He didn’t waste any time either as he nicked Ryan Sidebottom into the wicket keeper’s gloves. Dhoni made just 5 but he would be excused for that as India already got themselves sitting pretty. VVS Laxman after that managed to get a fifty-run stand with Anil Kumble to stretch the lead further. In an attempt to get some quick runs, VVS got caught behind trying to reach out a Tremlett delivery with a cut. An elegant and a good innings to watch it was from Laxman as he packed 7 fours in his 152-ball 54. India eventually ended at 481 all out in 158.5 overs. Kumble needs a mention here for his 30 which was quite aggressive coming with six fours. Monty Panesar picked up the last two wickets with his arm balls. There was plenty of spice towards the end of the innings with big boys from both sides – Kevin Pietersen and Zaheer Khan having a go at each other which brought the Umpires to postpone their little bout after the end of the day’s play and out of the cricket ground.
The English bowlers suffered, Monty got a caning, going for 4 for 101 in 33.5 overs and Anderson with 1 for 135 in 33. Sidebottom with 1 for 75 in 36 and Tremlett with 3 for 80 held their pride very well. India had 16 overs at the English batsmen. But a poor and unrhytmic start from Sreesanth was what was required from the batsmen. Strauss and Cook were extremely confident in putting away anything that was off line. India looked flat in those 16 overs with Dravid using as many as five bowlers. Strauss is onto 21 from 58 and Cook is on 17 from 39, there is one heck of a job to be done for the Indian bowlers. The wicket remains good with not much deviation for the seamers. It is all about surviving swing and the pressure of facing Anil Kumble on a fourth day’s pitch along with a deficit of 240 that will be the ingredients of the fourth day’s play at Trent Bridge.