India in commanding position, lead by 231 runs

Mohali, December 5: India hold all the aces after taking a substantial first innings lead of 231 runs after the third day of the first Test against England here on Wednesday.

By close England had reached 34 for no loss with Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble posing plenty of problems for the England openers.

The Indian innings was one of fits and starts. Sachin Tendulkar, overnight on 31, led the charge in the morning session as 91 runs came in 24 overs before lunch.

Rahul Dravid moved from 78 to 86 before he was trapped in front by medium pacer James Ormond. The stand with Tendulkar was worth 178 runs, but Dravid never got on top of the bowling while facing 206 balls.

Matthew Hoggard posed a few problems to Tendulkar in the first couple of overs this morning and the master batsman responded in the way he knows best. A hook for four and a nudge that went racing through mid-off saw him reach his 50 from 77 balls. A couple of overs later and Hoggard was dispatched three times for four. It was heady stuff.

Sourav Ganguly was looking far from comfortable at the other end and was tested in the final over before lunch by Andrew Flintoff. The medium pacer had him ducking a bouncer from the first ball of that over and the second was pulled none too confidently for four. Words were exchanged after the first bouncer and after the last ball of the over — also short and also pulled to the boundary — things looked to boil over. It took umpire Steve Bucknor and captain Nasser Hussain to cool things down.

The England fielders carried on their sloppy work from the second day and once again it was debutant wicket-keeper James Foster who was the villain of the piece. Thorpe too dropped a sitter.

Ganguly leapt out to smash off-spinner Richard Dawson, missed, was stranded yards down the pitch — and scrambled to safety even as Foster fumbled the ball. The Indian captain was then on 41, looking for only his third Test 50 since taking over as captain late last year. But he fell six runs later to Hoggard to an ugly shot, both his feet off the ground as the catch was plucked by Graham Thorpe at deep point, part of the packed off-side field that Hussain had set for him.

The over before that there was bliss for Hoggard and England and deep disappointment for the large crowd that had turned out in anticipation of another century from Tendulkar.

Hoggard induced what appeared to be a faint tickle as the master batsman played what could best be described as a nothing-shot. Foster snapped it up behind the stumps but the bowler himself let out only a half-appeal. The celebrations when the umpire’s finger went up were of course pretty exuberant. There were 13 boundaries in his 88.

VVS Laxman played one of those airy-fairy innings which he has been compiling with infuriating regularity ever since his epochal 281 against Australia at Kolkata in March. A delightful flick through mid-wicket off Dawson was followed by another flashy shot to gully where Hussain snapped him up for 28.

Sanjay Bangar (36) and Iqbal Siddique (24) hit some useful runs down the order to push the lead past the 200-run mark. Dawson picked up four wickets, though it was Hoggard who impressed the most on Wednesday.