Just before the start of the play, clad in a well-creased black suit, Kapil Dev had the audience in thrall for a while in the press box at the Ageas Bowl.
One of the listeners politely reminded the legend about him saving India the follow-on at the Lord’s in 1990, slamming four sixes in a row off Eddie Hemmings. On a muggy Wednesday, India were in a similar position at Southampton, looking to save the ignominy of follow-on on day four of the third Test. But as the day progressed, the fight transformed into one to save the Test itself.
There was no encore of the magic this day, as India first fell short of England’s first innings total by 239 runs, getting bowled for 330. England didn’t enforce follow-on, but marched all over India to reach 205 for four in their second innings, setting the visitors an improbable target of 445.
Then they reduced India to 112 for four by the end of the day to hold all the aces going into the last day. India trail by 332 runs and they face a torturous task of surviving an entire day for a draw, and batting for time has not been a strong side of them, traditionally.
There was a hint of hope once the Indian openers – M Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan – survived testing spells from James Anderson and Stuart Broad. But Broad’s underarm throw ended the 26-run opening wicket alliance catching Vijay just short of the crease.
Moeen Ali then bagged the huge wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, tellingly using the rough on the pitch to get turn and bounce. Joe Root jettisoned Shikhar Dhawan, who added 51 runs for the third wicket with Kohli, to leave India do the firefighting on the last day.
Once they had gathered a substantial first-innings lead, England produced another forceful effort with the bat to put the match away from the reach of India. None exemplified their determination more than their skipper Alastair Cook. After months of barren run, the southpaw had regained a semblance of form with a measured 95 in the fist innings here.
Cook added an unbeaten 70 to that this day, indicating his return to run-making ways. The solid presence of Cook at one end allowed the other batsmen to go for runs with a free mind. The first salvo, though, was fired by India. Bhuvneshwar Kumar got some extra bounce and the ball flew to Dhawan at first slip off Sam Robson’s bat.
But that was the lone bright spot for India for a while as Gary Ballance and Cook collected runs at a fast clip for the second wicket, adding 58 runs in little over 13 overs. Ballance was in fine touch, a well-timed square-drive and a crunchy push down the ground off Bhuvneshwar were his best shots of the day. Pankaj Singh was the most economical of bowlers, producing a spell of 5-3-5-0 in the first session.
However, a howler snapped Ballance’s innings for the second time in this match. It was umpire Marais Erasmus’ turn to rule him out after Ravindra Jadeja’s sharply spun ball ended in the hands of Pujara at short leg. Erasmus lifted his finger, but the replays showed a massive gap between bat and ball.
In the post-lunch session, Ian Bell and Root bunted the Indian attack around in the company of a single-minded Cook. Bell played an aggressive yet aesthetically pleasing innings of 23 before search for quick runs brought his end. Root’s arrival only heaped more misery on India.
Having missed out on a good score in the first innings, the Yorkshire batsman made a glittering fifty (56 off 41 balls) as Indians faded gradually.