For nearly thirty minutes in the first session, the pendulum of fortune and the ball swung so furiously to give a fresh life to England’s hopes of a draw, something they still can achieve. It also seemed to make a mockery of the Indian team management’s decision not to enforce the follow-on before Sourav Ganguly stepped in to restore some normalcy to the proceedings with a vintage innings.

His innings helped India to recover from a sorry-looking 11 for three and declare their second innings closed at 180 for six for an overall lead of 499 runs on the fourth day of the third Test at The Oval. Earlier, India had quickly wrapped up England's first innings at 345 for a lead of 319 runs.

Openers Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook took England to 56 for no loss at close, setting the stage for an intriguing final day.

But the protagonist of the day title belonged to Ganguly as he masterminded India's consolidation process. The Kolkatan displayed his prowess on the off-side, caressing the red cherry to the fence for eight of his nine boundaries. It was definitely an innings from the top draw, especially from an aesthetic point of view.

Ganguly has been in great touch throughout this series, only a couple of bad decisions depriving him of a big score. On an overcast day that facilitated swing, Ganguly had an arduous task of warding off the English attack, but the way he batted belied the conditions.

Anderson on song
James Anderson, off-colour in the first innings, found his rhythm all of a sudden under favourable conditions. The Lancashire pace bowler posed the biggest threat for the Indian batsmen. Ganguly, the audacious character that he is, took the bull by its horns and lay into Anderson in his inimitable style.

A wristy flick, a classic cover-drive, a sweetly-timed punch through the cover area and Ganguly had effectively neutralised Anderson’s threat. At the other end, Rahul Dravid was not in the best touch, playing and missing repeatedly. But the Bangalorean ensured that he stayed at the crease and provided support to Ganguly as the left-hander brought up his fifty in a mere 53 balls.

His knock carried far more importance than any other that he has played in recent times. This innings was according to the team’s demands, and the punch with both the hands illustrated the significance that he attributed to it. His vigil came to an end soon when he edged Paul Collingwood to Andrew Strauss at slips. But by then, he had done his job to perfection, apart from adding 65 for the fourth-wicket with Dravid.

Dravid also soon departed after a strenuous tenure at the crease in which he took 91 balls to find his first boundary. The Indian captain edged Collingwood for Strauss to complete a regulation catch at slip.

India, however, were in a total mess when the duo joined forces at the middle after the team management decided not to enforce the follow-on. It might have surprised some, but with the series already in the kitty, the think-tank probably preferred to bat England out of the game and then attempt to force a result.

The plan almost backfired as umpire Ian Howell came up with yet another howler. It will not be stretching the imagination to think that Howell’s thought process has been frozen in English conditions. The South African gave Wasim Jaffer out leg before to Anderson even as the ball was travelling well above the stumps.

The Mumbaikar’s dismissal triggered a mini collapse. Dinesh fell to Chris Tremlett, who shared the new ball with Anderson as Ryan Sidebottom did not take the field with a left side strain. Forced to play a climbing delivery, Kaarthick edged Tremlett to Collingwood at slips.

Sachin Tendulkar walked to a standing ovation. But the Mumbaikar failed to make any kind of impact as he edged an incoming delivery from Anderson on to his stumps.

However, Ganguly’s brave innings and some meaty blows from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who completed 1000 runs in his 20th Test, gave India the momentum.


SCORE BOARD
INDIA (I Innings): 664

ENGLAND (I Innings, O/n: 326/9)
Strauss c Sreesanth b Zaheer 6
(19m, 13b, 1x4)

Cook c RP Singh b Kumble 61
(147m, 98b, 11x4)

Anderson lbw RP Singh 16
(72m, 48b, 3x4)

Vaughan c&b Kumble 11
(56m, 36b, 2x4)

Pietersen c Dravid b Tendulkar 41
(125m, 107b, 4x4)

Collingwood lbw Sreesanth 62
(125m, 107b, 9x4)

Bell c Dhoni b Zaheer 63
(108m, 96b, 11x4)

Prior c Tendulkar b Sreesanth 0
(39m, 15b)

Sidebottom c&b Zaheer 2
(3m, 4b)

Tremlett (not out) 25
(68m, 49b, 2x4)

Panesar lbw Kumble 9
(56m, 42b, 2x4)

Extras (B-16, LB-12, W-11, NB-10) 49

Total (all out, 103.1 overs) 345
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Strauss), 2-78 (Anderson), 3-119 (Cook), 4-124 (Vaughan), 5-202 (Pietersen), 6-288 (Collingwood), 7-303 (Bell), 8-305 (Sidebottom), 9-305 (Prior).

Bowling: Zaheer 22-13-32-3, Sreesanth 21-2-80-2 (w-6, nb-6), Kumble 29.1-7-94-3 (nb-4), RP Singh 18-3-72-1 (w-4), Ganguly 5-1-8-0 (w-1), Tendulkar 7-0-26-1, Laxman 1-0-5-0.

INDIA (II Innings):

Kaarthick c C’wood b Tremlett 8
(20m, 15b, 2x4)

Jaffer lbw Anderson 0
(4m, 6b)

Dravid c Strauss b Collingwood 12
(140m, 96b, 1x4)

Tendulkar b Anderson 1
(14m, 11b)

Ganguly c Strauss b C’wood 57
(95m, 68b, 9x4)

Laxman (not out) 46
(114m, 86b, 4x4)

Dhoni c Prior b Tremlett 36
(78m, 64b, 4x4)

Kumble (not out) 8
(8m, 13b, 1x4)

Extras (B-1, LB-5, NB-6) 12

Total (for 6 wkts decl, in 58 overs) 180
Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Jaffer), 2-10 (Kaarthick), 3-11 (Tendulkar), 4-76 (Ganguly), 5-89 (Dravid), 6-158 (Dhoni).
Bowling: James Anderson 15-8-34-2, Chris Tremlett 15-2-58-2 (nb-5), Paul Collingwood 10-1-24-2 (nb-1), Monty Panesar 18-1-58-0.

ENGLAND (II Innings):
Strauss (batting) 23
(87m, 72b, 4x4)

Cook (batting) 27
(87m, 48b, 3x4)

Extras (LB-3, W-3) 6

Total (for no loss, 20 overs) 56

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 6-0-15-0 (w-2), Sreesanth 5-3-5-0 (w-1), Anil Kumble 5-1-21-0, Rudra Pratap Singh 3-1-6-0, Sachin Tendulkar 1-0-6-0.