The wisdom behind the Indian think-tank’s decision to not enforce the follow-on in the third Test at The Oval can be debated for endless hours, but the fact remains that the visitors have won a series in England after 21 years, and the discussion about issues like follow-on and the margin is purely academic.

Chasing an unlikely 500 for a win, England ended up with 369 for six at close. It was largely due to an uncharacteristic, but still wonderful hundred from Kevin Pietersen. The considerable total England put up in a way also vindicated India’s decision to not enforce the follow-on as the home side could have set them a considerable target to chase.

Pietersen, however, had to share the final day’s honours with the Indian bowlers, who set about the stern task of taking 10 wickets in the maximum 90 overs in a manful way. It cannot be taken away from them that they tried gamely on a homestretch that still held together, barring a marginal amount of turn and bounce it had offered.
The responsibility of separating the two overnight English openers Alsitair Cook and Andrew Strauss was mainly on Zaheer Khan in the first session. But the left-handed duo batted with no sense of urgency — quite understandable when a win was out of question — and tackled the Indian pace bowler without much effort even as the latter managed to swing the ball both ways.

Sreesanth on song
The most impressive bowler for India at that period was S Sreesanth. The Kerala paceman displayed more purpose and fire than on the previous day as he pitched the ball in the right areas.

Cook in particular was in a lot of trouble against Sreesanth as he often played and missed, besides surviving some vociferous appeals for leg before. Strauss, at the other end, looked far more assured and executed shots on various part of the park with elan. Despite those occasional hiccups, Strauss and Cook played with their focus firmly on surviving the session and they added 79 runs for the opening wicket.

It needed Rudra Pratap Singh to fetch the first breakthrough as he prised out a solid-looking Strauss. He edged an away going delivery from Singh to VVS Laxman at second slip. The wicket seemed to spur the Indians as they bowled with lot more purpose and they were rewarded with the scalp of Cook soon afterwards. Laxman grabbed the southpaw’s uppish flick off Anil Kumble at leg gully.

At 86 for two, it seemed as if India would scythe through the England line-up, but that was not to be the case. Skipper Michael Vaughan and Pietersen warded off the persistent Indian bowlers with some stout-hearted strokeplay.

Vaughan had the assistance of luck as well. Dravid came up with a rare lapse at first slip while grassing a rather simple chance when the England skipper was on 28. Vaughan nullified Kumble’s effect with superb footwork. But Vaughan did not last long once the post lunch session had started. Fittingly, it was Sreesanth, India’s best bowler on the day, who accounted for Vaughan’s wicket. Sreesanth swung one delivery away from Vaughan and the batsman obliged with edging it to Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the wicket.

Stubborn resistance
The Indians, however, stumbled against Pietersen and Paul Collingwood, who shared a 114-run fourth-wicket alliance. The duo is as different as chalk from cheese. Pietersen is a brilliant shotmaker with scant regard for situation and opponents. While Collingwood has only a limited number of strokes in his arsenal, he can be a sticky customer at the crease as India found out.

Collingwood just had to bat in his natural way, but Pietersen had to curb his aggressive mien for team’s cause. Both of them did their duty to perfection as India strove to break the fourth-wicket partnership without any avail. Pietersen brought up his 10th Test hundred in his 30th Test with a typical power-packed whip off the leg to mid-wicket off Sreesanth.

But the bowler won the battle when Pietersen edged him to Dinesh Kaarthick at first slip. The Hampshire batsman, however, had done enough to ensure safety for his team.

INDIA (I Innings): 664

ENGLAND (I Innings): 345

INDIA (II Innings): 180/6 decl.

ENGLAND (II Innings, O/n: 56/0):

Strauss c Laxman b RP Singh 32
(140m, 113b, 6x4)

Cook c Laxman b Kumble 43
(154m, 85b, 5x4)

Vaughan c Dhoni b Sreesanth 42
(106m, 95b 5x4)

Pietersen c K’thick b S’santh 101
(159m, 216m, 18x4)

Collingwood lbw Sreesanth 40
(81m, 96m, 5x4)

Bell lbw Kumble 67
(98m, 62b, 12x4)

Prior (not out) 12
(93m, 64b, 1x4)

Sidebottom (not out) 3
(19m, 15b)

Extras (B-2, LB-4, W-9, NB-14) 29

Total (for 6 wkts, 110 overs) 369

Fall of wickets: 1-79 (Strauss), 2-86 (Cook), 3-152 (Vaughan), 4-266 (Collingwood), 5-289 (Pietersen), 6-363 (Bell).

Bowling: Zaheer Khan 20-3-59-0 (w-7), Sreesanth 21-7-53-3 (w-1, nb-1), Anil Kumble 37-9-123-2 (nb-5), RP Singh 13-2-50-1 (nb-1, w-1), Sachin Tendulkar 19-0-78-0 (nb-7).