India appear set to level series

England vs India: 3rd Test: Day 4 Headingley, Leeds, England Report status: Lunch

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If Nasser Hussain thought the first two days of the Test were a case of spilt milk, he must have cried buckets on Saturday at the oil spill his team has been trapped in, in the face of an astounding Indian exhibition.

India have all but ensured their maiden Test win in England since 1986 with an exemplary bowling display against a demoralised England side.

England ended Day three at 264-9, requiring another 165 runs to avoid the follow-on.

Morning Session:

Alex Tudor overpitched a fraction and Sachin Tendulkar carved the ball through the covers for the first boundary of the day. Seven runs short of his maiden overseas double century, Tendulkar played Andy Caddick on the back foot, the ball kept low, and he was rapped on the pads. Umpire Asoka De Silva's finger spoke and Tendulkar began walking back to a standing ovation reserved for an august innings of such quality (596-5).

Tendulkar's 330-ball knock had only seven runs scored in the 'V', but it also made him the highest run-getter in Tests in 2002. If only our patience had outlasted our finite attention span.

India lost wickets regularly thereafter as the batsmen searched for quick runs. Ajit Agarkar made room for himself and swung lustily at Caddick only to be bowled (602-6).

Off the very next ball Parthiv Patel edged Caddick straight to first slip fielder Robert Key at ankle height. Key grassed the chance.

V V S Laxman at the other end failed to force the pace and spooned the ball in the air for Nasser Hussain running in from mid-off to take a splendid catch diving full length forward and picking it up inches from the ground.

Patel then hooked Tudor and was dropped by Matthew Hoggard at fine leg. Harbhajan Singh, who played a cameo knock of 18 runs, sent the next four balls from the fast-medium bowler crashing to the fence. His dismissal prompted Sourav Ganguly to declare at 628-8, India's highest ever score overseas erasing the 606-9 declared made at the Oval in August 1990.

An interesting statistic is that of the ten Test matches in which India have scored more than 500 runs in the first innings overseas, they have failed to win a single one. Maybe it is time to rewrite history.

England's fielding, barring Hussain, was pedestrian. This has to be the worst they have fielded all summer.

England innings:

Key, having dropped three sitters in the field, made amends by driving Zaheer Khan square of the wicket and then sent him crashing through the covers to kick-start the English riposte.

Michael Vaughan, in prime form, sent a fullish length ball from Ajit Agarkar, who shared the new ball with Zaheer Khan, rocketing through the covers.

The first ball of Agarkar's second over was clocked at 88 miles per hour as it screamed past Key's grille. Excited by the pace being generated, Agarkar tried to bowl a yard quicker and sprayed down the leg-side. Key promptly sent him scurrying to the backward square-leg fence.

Vaughan cover drove Agarkar with imperial timing forcing skipper Ganguly to take him out of the attack after bowling just four overs for 22 runs. Sanjay Bangar, who replaced him, lacked the pace; but for once it was heartening to see an Indian seamer bowl in the right channel.

In the thirteenth over, Anil Kumble was introduced into the attack and the ball spat and kicked at Vaughan who negotiated the leg-spinner with tight defence.

Vaughan took England to lunch at 61-0 with his seventh four. England had scored 12 boundaries scoring at a healthy rate of 3.2 runs per over.

Post-lunch session:

Zaheer Khan set up Robert Key beautifully after lunch. He repeatedly angled the ball across the burly opener and Key finally swished at one and found the edge that settled into Laxman's hands at second slip. Key was gone for 30 and England had lost their first wicket at 67.

Vaughan, meanwhile, reached his classy 78-ball half-century on his home ground with his eighth boundary, driving Kumble to the cover boundary. Off the very next delivery, Kumble struck Vaughan on his pads bang in front of the wicket, only to be turned down appallingly by umpire David Orchard. Replays confirmed that the ball would have speared right through the centre of the middle stump.

Kumble, however, struck back, trapping Butcher plumb in front for 16 soon after with an arm ball, forcing Orchard to raise the finger (109-2).

Agarkar, in the second spell, settled into a rhythm and worried skipper Hussain, jagging the ball back into him, hurting his rib cage and smacking his gloves once.

Kumble bowled unchanged and unchanging -- pitching the ball in the same spot and tormenting the batsmen. He found the edge of Hussain's bat, but the catch eluded Dravid at first slip before crashing into the third-man fence.

Vaughan then slashed at Agarkar and saw the ball fly off the edge of the bat to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel who tipped the ball to Laxman at second slip who muffed the simple take. Dravid at first slip made a desperate lunge, but failed to grab the ball, which seemed to hang in the air forever.

Off the very next ball, Vaughan hit the ball straight to Virendra Sehwag in the covers and the positive riposte from the English seemed to have been a false dawn.

England's best batsman was back in the pavilion and England were still trailing by 498 runs. And Agarkar had made a fighting comeback in his second spell of eight overs for 18 runs and the invaluable wicket of Vaughan.

An incessant drizzle forced the umpires to call for early tea with the Englishmen 135-3 requiring 429 to avoid the follow-on. Ganguly, without having bowled his two spinners in tandem, had the Englishmen on the mat. Harbhajan Singh, in fact, did not bowl a single over between lunch and tea after having bowled two overs, both maidens, before lunch.

It may be interesting to attack Hussain and new batsman John Crawley with spin at both ends after tea.

Post-tea session:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing; if only it dawns before decisions. Ganguly must have been ruing the fact that he didn't bowl his spinners in tandem until the 57th over.

Zaheer Khan began proceedings after tea and bowled with a lot of thought, puzzling the batsmen moving two balls away and getting one to jag back in. He was rewarded when Hussain pushed his leg in front and was sent on his way by the umpire. Replays showed that the ball would probably have sailed over the stumps and had pitched fractionally outside the leg stump (140-4).

Hussain's departure for 25 was, however, justified since the ball had also ricocheted off his gloves into the hands of Sehwag at forward short-leg.

Zaheer Khan could well have had his third wicket off the very next ball when Alec Stewart edged the ball to Bangar at third slip. But Bangar failed to latch on to the low chance.

John Crawley had batted for 19 balls before he got his first run of the match even as Stewart got another reprieve, this time from Patel off Kumble. The catch, though, was a tough one and it would be unfair to blame the diminutive keeper for it. Barring that blot, his keeping was top-notch. Collecting the ball with soft hands, Patel seems a natural, light on his feet and never snatching at the cherry. His keeping to Kumble was a delight, as was his collection down the leg side.

Crawley finally tried to glance Harbhajan to fine leg, only to find Laxman stationed at leg-slip, and England plummeted to 164-5. Trapping Andy Flintoff leg before off the very next ball, Singh set the cat among the pigeons as England had lost their sixth wicket with more than two days to be played in the Test.

Alex Tudor negotiated the hat-trick ball, but kept pushing and prodding at the deliveries, ensuring that his stay at the wicket was not going to last very long.

He finally perished whooshing at Agarkar and offering a catch to Sehwag at third slip (185-7).

Alec Stewart and Ashley Giles pulled through a miniature recovery with an invaluable 70-run partnership that saw the Indian attack waver a bit. Stewart reached his half-century, carved out of ingenuity with a blend of aggression and alacrity. He pulled and cut with elan and was particularly severe on Harbhajan Singh, taking 28 runs off his bowling.

But Kumble eventually broke the partnership with the fourth LBW decision of the England innings as Giles was dismissed after a dogged 52-ball 25.

Harbhajan Singh then picked up his third wicket, clipping Andy Caddick's off-bail as England seemed destined to lose the Test if the rains decided to stay away (258-9).

All the Indian bowlers chipped in with wickets; Harbhajan Singh and Kumble shared five wickets to re-establish the belief that it is more important to play to your own strengths than to go by rote.

Losing six wickets in the extended post-tea session for 122 runs, England ended the day at 264-9, still trailing the Indian first innings by 364 runs. India now appear set to draw level in the series and set the platform for the final Test at the Oval.