 England on the verge of follow-on at The Oval
12th Aug 2007 08:27 IST
Agencies
Anil Kumble joined Glenn McGrath as the third highest wicket-taker in the longer version of the game while India were just one wicket away from forcing a follow-on down England's throat on the third day of the third and final Test at The Oval in London on Saturday.
In reply to India's first innings total of 664, the hosts were 326/9 at stumps on Day Three with Chris Tremlett (18) and Monty Panesar (0) in the middle. England still trail India by 338 runs and only a miracle can see them avoid follow-on.
The Oval remained kind to Kumble for the second successive day and after scoring his maiden ton Friday, the seasoned leggie on Saturday removed England captain Michael Vaughan to join McGrath (563) as the third highest wicket-taker in Test matches, behind fellow spinners Shane Warne (708) and Muttiah Muralitharan (700).
Kumble's twin strike in the morning session and Zaheer Khan's double blow in the final session pegged back the hosts, who showed semblance of resistance in between.
In the first session, Kumble removed well set Alastair Cook (61) and Vaughan (11) off successive overs as the Indians took an iron grip on the Test looking to win their first series in England in 21 years.
Resuming on 24/1, the hosts lost night watchman James Anderson (16) early but were sailing along merrily at 119/2 before Kumble came back for his fruitful second spell.
He first removed Cook as the batsman tried to flick a bit too early and the ball flew off the back of his bat for Rudra Pratap Singh to take an easy catch at mid-off.
Then, in his last over before Lunch, Kumble got rid of the England captain, removing Vaughan by beating him in the air and taking an easy return catch to the great delight of his teammates.
Before his dismissal, Cook had the lady luck on his side as the Indians dropped him twice on 13 and 28.
Dinesh Karthik was the culprit first when he dropped a straightforward catch at leg slip when Cook glanced S Sreesanth straight to him. The ball came chest high to Karthik who was specially placed there to make the plan work.
Cook got a second reprieve when Sourav Ganguly let off a sharp chance at the same leg slip position off Kumble.
India finally got their first breakthrough when R P Singh took over from Sreesanth and immediately trapped Anderson leg before when the total was 78.
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