Cricket
England on verge of victory
2012-12-08 13:50
Steve Finn (Gallo Images)
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Kolkata - England were on the verge of victory as they reduced India to 239 for
nine - a lead of only 32 runs at stumps on the fourth day of the third Test in Kolkata on Saturday.
Scorecard: India v England
According supersport.com website, Ravichandran Ashwin put up a show of defiance with 83 not out, and he
was the only man standing between England and a fourth-day win.
Steven Finn finished the day with 3-37.
Earlier, England made huge strides towards victory as they took six
wickets in the afternoon to reduce India to 145 for six at tea.
The visitors claimed the wicket of Virender Sehwag for 49 the first
first ball after the luncheon interval, when he lazily prodded at Graeme
Swann, but the ball found the gap between bat & pad and removed his
off stump.
It was a real procession thereafter, with the hosts losing another five
wickets for 24 runs to give England the upper hand in the match.
Cheteshwar Pujara was run out by a direct hit from Ian Bell, and both
Gautam Gambhir (40) and Sachin Tendulkar fell within four runs of each
other.
Anderson got the important wickets of Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh
Dhoni in consecutive overs to put India in a lot of bother and give
England hope of taking an unbeatable 2-1 series lead.
At lunch, India were in a relatively safe position, reaching 86 without loss, having earlier dismissed the visitors for 523.
England resumed on 509 for six, and with the second ball of the day
Ashwin picked up Swann who drove outside off at a flighted delivery to
be caught in the slips for 21.
Matt Prior (41) fell the very next over to Pragyan Ojha, for Dhoni's
200th test catch, as Prior cut a short ball right into his hands.
Ashwin wrapped up the innings, removing Anderson and Monty Panesar with consecutive deliveries, to ensure a lead of only 207.
Ojha finished with 4-142 and Ashwin bagged 3-183.