Tendulkar leads Indian fightback

Bangalore, December 20: When it finally happened, the reaction, instead of joy, was one of relief.

Anil Kumble won an leg before verdict against last man Matthew Hoggard in his 30th over of the innings.

Not the greatest of batsmen to snare, nevertheless the Karnataka leg-spinner had his 300th Test wicket at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.

That also marked the end of the England innings, at 336. India, in reply, were 99 for 3 when play was called off due to bad light, after tottering at 22 for two at one stage.

The relief was written large on Kumble’s face. He almost got it in Ahmedabad, falling just short there, and Wednesday saw this city, and Kumble’s family, wait with eager anticipation.

But they went home disappointed, and on Thursday also they almost denied. But then, it happened. But the story of bowling success in these two days has not been that of the spinners.

Javagal Srinath was by far the best for the Indians, while Andrew Flintoff struck all the blows for the visitors.

Srinath seems to be getting younger with age, and on Thursday, he brought out the Yorker, a weapon that had been hidden so far back in the armoury that it was almost forgotten.

But it was a snorter that dealt the first blow this morning, Craig White being forced to fend off for Shiv Sunder Das to hold a good catch. James Foster was another victim for him. Kumble’s 300-mark should have come in the morning, when Ashley Giles was held at bat-pad after he played the ball onto his boot.

But umpire AV Jayaprakash thought otherwise. That he compromised later, giving Giles out leg before off Sarandeep when the batsman was outside the off-stump, does not really condone the mistake.

In fact, it only adds to Jayaprakash’s poor showing. In came the Indians, and out went Deep Dasgupta, edging Flintoff to Marcus Trescothick in the slip cordon. VVS Laxman, sent ahead of Rahul Dravid, slammed the first delivery he faced to the mid-wicket fence, and then pulled another to the fence but as is the case with him nowadays, he got to 12 and was then beaten all ends up by a Flintoff off-cutter.

In came Sachin Tendulkar to a huge roar, and began decimating the attack. A sharp short one by Flintoff welcomed him, but the initial hesitation having been taken care of, he began clobbering the bowlers all around.

Das could not make most of the reprieve given to him by umpire Asoka de Silva when he played onto his pads and Foster caught the ball. He chopped Flintoff on to the stumps to depart for 28.

Dravid was never very sure of his feet, and spent 26 minutes at the crease before getting a run.