The third Test, beginning at The Oval on Thursday, holds historical importance for India as they will be chasing a series win in English soil for the first time since 1986. But to accomplish that, they will have to defy  history itself.

India's record in Tests following a winning Test has not been encouraging. They had let the advantage slip in Australia and South Africa to squander superb chances to register overseas wins.

The current trip has already offered enough signals that the trend might undergo a change. The bowlers have been in excellent form and the batsmen, though none of them have made any huge scores so far, have also shown good touch.

The bowling has emerged India's trump card in this series. Zaheer Khan perplexed the English batsmen with pace and swing in the last two Tests at Lord's and Nottingham. The Mumbai left-arm paceman had successfully managed to angle the deliveries back into the right-handers from round the wicket to trouble the batsmen.

Rudra Pratap Singh too has swung the ball at lively pace, leaving the English batsmen in a limbo regarding shot selection. The fuller length adopted by the two Indian pace bowlers has cramped them to a large extent.

At The Oval, they will have to adjust their lengths as the pitch here does not provide the same kind of assistance as the previous two venues. That will make it mandatory for the Indian bowlers to shorten their length to procure more bounce, a commodity expected to be on offer aplenty here.

England's decision to retain the towering Chris Tremlett in the eleven for the crucial Test is also based on the same theory. But another bowler too will be eager to exploit the bounce.

Master of bounce
Anil Kumble has been a master of pitches that offer bounce. If the veteran leg-spinner can replicate some of his past deeds, the host batsmen will struggle to find answers. The focus will be on S Sreesanth as well, and mainly because he has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.

The Kerala paceman's beamer at Kevin Pietersen in the second Test has attracted heated debate and scathing remarks. The aggressive pacer has been omitted from India's one-day squad for the NatWest Series. In that scenario, it is natural to suspect his motivation levels.

But Sreesanth is a gritty character and if takes the whole fortnight as a source of inspiration, there can well be some fiery moments and the team management will take it as a positive as well.

This should be the last Test in England for the golden generation of Indian batting.

Three players of the quartet -- Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman -- have so far shown glimpses of their abilities and the fourth, skipper Rahul Dravid, is yet to produce one of those big knocks.

Sense of history
The Bangalorean is blessed with a wonderful sense of history and occasion, and there will be no better occasion to reel off a big hundred than at The Oval.

The last time Dravid played here, he returned with a double hundred in a drawn encounter, but this time he will be hoping to better that result. The fact that India have not lost a Test at The Oval since 1959 must add to their confidence.

England haven’t lost a Test series in their backyard since the 2001 Ashes, and they will be keen to preserve that record by drawing level.

Under Michael Vaughan, England have managed to come from behind and either draw or win a series six times, with the latest instant being the 2005 Ashes.

The high fever Pietersen suffered on Tuesday had cast a shadow over England's preparations for the decider.

But much to their relief, the Hampshire batsman was at the nets on Wednesday. Pietersen, though, spent time at the side of the nets speaking to the team psychologist Steve Bull.

With history beckoning both teams, spectators can brace up for a bone-cruncher.

Teams (from):
India: Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, RP Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Kaarthick, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, VVS Laxman, Zaheer Khan, Ramesh Powar, S Sreesanth, Wasim Jaffer, Yuvraj Singh, Ranadeb Bose, Ishant Sharma.

England: Michael Vaughan (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Monty Panesar, Matthew Hoggard, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss, Matt Prior, Ryan Sidebottom, Chris Tremelett.

Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Ian Howell (Zimbabwe). Third umpire: Peter Heartley. Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).