England V India 4th Test Day 4: Dravid Century, DRS Decision Dominate Thrilling Day
India ended the fourth day of the fourth Test match at 129 for three in the second innings, needing to score 162 runs to make England bat again.
It was the toughest day of Test cricket in this series between India and England and by the time the fourth day had ended, England still held ascendancy at the Oval. And yet, the fight shown by the Indian batting would have given the fans something to cheer about amid the gloom of the series performance.
India had begun the day with five of their first innings wicket down and only 103 runs on the board. In reply to England’s 591, that was 488 runs short. Much like the rest of the series, Rahul Dravid was the only batsman to have shown resilience the previous day and the script did not change on the fourth.
Dravid, unbeaten on 57 overnight, went on to get to his century and carried his bat through to the end of the innings. He notched up his 35th century in this format of the game, and scored an unbeaten 146, with the good news being that the rest of the Indian batting, down the order holding their end up.
MS Dhoni, while he did not score too many runs, batted on to allow any early morning juice to ebb off. This brought in the highly under-rated batsman in Amit Mishra – given that Gautam Gambhir was still wobbly after his mild concussion from the second day – and in partnership with Dravid, the pair managed to draw 87 runs off the English total.
Mishra looked good for his half-century but an excellent diving catch from Ian Bell ended his essay at the crease. Gambhir did stroll out to bat but it was evident that he had done that against medical advice. He batted with grave difficulties, failed to run more than one at a given time but from the Indian perspective, he was able to see through 62 deliveries.
For the first time on the tour, India managed to get to 300, but lost both, RP Singh and Sreesanth in the space of three balls to be bowled out at the same score.
Following on after trailing England by 291 runs, the Gambhir-injury meant that the Indians had to open the innings with Dravid again. It translated into a whopping fact; Dravid had been on field on all the four days of the game thus far, beginning with the time that India fielded in the English innings to opening the Indian first knock and remaining not-out till the end before the start of the second innings.
While Virender Sehwag and Dravid saw through to the tea, it was a rather shoddy piece of umpiring that saw the end of the latter. A purported inside-edge to short-leg was appealed against, the umpire gave it not-out before the DRS was used to adjudicate on the decision. Without any evidence on Hot-Spot or Snick-o-Meter, the third umpire Steve Davies had the gall to give it out, much to the bewilderment of the Indian fans.
Sehwag followed soon after, his scratchy 33 being highest score of the series, while VVS Laxman’s start was ended at 24. India ended the day on 129 for three, with Sachin Tendulkar and night watchman Amit Mishra at the crease, 162 runs behind making England bat again.
