New Delhi: A spineless display by the Indian batsmen saw the team being bowled out for 279 runs in the first innings of the final Test match of the three-match series at Mumbai on Monday to concede a lead of 121 runs.
England came out to bat with their opening pair of Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell looking to put the Indians on the mat.
However the first innings centurian, Strauss, failed to reproduce his form and was caught by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who took an unbelievable forward diving catch behind the stumps, of Munaf Patel's bowling.
Next it was the turn of S Sreesanth to get into the wicket taking act when he sent a beautiful outswinger that kissed the outside edge of Bell's bat before lodging itself inside Dhoni's gloves.
However the all too fimiliar habit of the Indian of dropping catches came back to haunt then again as Yuvraj fielding at gully missed a sitter of the bowling of Sreesanth with Shaun Udal being the batsman.
At the end of the day's play the visitors had scored 31 in their second innings and extended their lead to 152 runs.
With eight more wickets and two days of play left in the match, India will have to produce a superlative performance to even save the match.
When the play began in the morning the hosts lost Yuvraj Singh early to England skipper Andrew Flintoff, who had Yuvraj caught brilliantly by wicket-keeper Geraint Jones for 37.
Dravid along with Dhoni tried to ressurect the Indian innings and added 48 runs for the fifth wicket.
However he could not resisting flicking a James Anderson delivery outside the leg stump that was gleefully lapped up by Jones behind the stumps.
Before he got out Dravid had scored 52 runs, his 42nd Test half-century and the seventh against England.
After his fall Dhoni curbed his attacking instincts and in the company of Irfan Pathan started rebuilding the Indian innings.
Both of them were dropped by England fielders, who seemd to be going India's way in the fielding department.
However Pathan was unable to take advantage of the pooor fielding and in a moment of heat tried to hit Shaun Udal out of the ground but only managed to scoop a simple catch to the mid-on fielder, Matthew Hoggard.
PAGE_BREAK
Anil Kumble walked in to take the strike and soon afterwards Flintoff took the new ball.
He himself bowled the first over with the new cherry and Dhoni promptly sent the first three balls of the over outside the boundary for fours.
However Dhoni tried to steal a cheeky single but Anderson's throw caught him just millimetres out side the crease to bring the seventh Indian wicket down.
Harbhajan Singh, too, did not stay for a long time on the field as Anderson, enjoying a dream day, combined once again with his wicket-keeper, Geraint Jones, to send him back for just two.
The ninth wicket partnership between Anil Kumble and S Sreesanth played aggresively to add 55 runs before Kumble was trapped LBW by Monty Panesar for 30.
Sreesanth was particularly enterprising stepping out of the crease several times to hit the England pacers.
However England had too much firepower and they finally bowled India out for 279 runs, when Anderson bowled Munaf Patel for seven, to take a lead of 121 runs.
On the second day of the match on Sunday two young pacers of Team India, S Sreesanth and Munaf patel, bowled with lot of fire and hostility to bring the England innings to an end at a score lot less than what Flintoff would have hoped.
While Sreesanth took four wickets in the innings, Munaf took two wickets in two consecutive balls to to end any hopes of the England tail wagging.
Comments
0 comment