At the end of the third day’s play India was still chasing England despite Dravid’s moment of redemption. In 1996 Dravid was the last man out in his debut Test at the same venue, a match which was lit up by Saurav Ganguly’s debut hundred. It was Broad, reluctantly chosen over Bresnan, who broke the back of Indian batting line up.
Indian openers battled out the initial burst from Tremlett and Anderson. Abhinav Mukund played solidly as Gambhir looked out of sorts. England broke through when Broad shattered Gambhir’s stumps with a full-pitched ball that swung in a bit. Mukund then nervously poked at a wider fuller delivery only to hear the death rattle behind him. He made a solid 49, but England were celebrating as Lunch approached with India on 102 for 2.
India’s most experienced batting pair, Dravid and Tendulkar, threatened to punish England in an absorbing passage of play. Anderson was carted for three lovely boundaries in one over by Dravid. But Tendulkar, who looked assured as well as crispy, was made to wait another day by Broad as Swann dived to his left to pouch a vital catch at the second slip.
158 for 3 could easily have become 158 for 5 had England slip fielders not dropped Dravid and VVS Laxman off Stuart Broad. Agony compounded on Broad’s face when Swann spilled Dravid after Strauss had dropped a sitter on the first ball of the same over to let Laxman off. Dravid’s drop proved costly in the end. Laxman handed it to England when he tamely swiveled to give a catch to Trott at deep backwards square leg off Tremlett. Suresh Raina was undone by Swann and England looked like to wrap up India well before the follow-on target.
Dhoni gave good company to Dravid to deny England for a while, but Tremlett removed him and Harbhajan in one over to raise hopes of follow-on again. Praveen Kumar played aggressively helping India past the mark, as Dravid neared his precious hundred. Dravid was unusually overjoyed when he reached hundred, at Lords, with a couple. He had to wait 15 years for his name to be on the Lords Honours board. India soon folded for 286, Dravid being stranded on a magnificent 103 with the help of 15 fours.
Stuart Broad was unlucky not to have taken more than 4 for 37. England saw off the five overs left in the day unharmed. A decisive day looms ahead as England would try to pile on, while India would try to limit the 4th innings target hoping their trump card Zaheer Khan is fit enough.
Summarized scores:
England 474/8 and 5/0 lead India 286 (Dravid 103*, Mukund 49; Broad 4/37, Tremlett 3/80) by 193 runs with 10 wickets remaining
Published in sportpulse.net on 23 Jul 2011
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