India found the noose tightening around them after England wriggled out of an early slump to take a substantial lead and gain firm control of the first Test on Saturday.
The visitors took a handy first innings lead of 75 runs by dismissing India for 241 immediately after lunch and then recovered from a jittery 43 for three to reach a comfortable 172 for three at close on the third day.
England have taken an overall lead of 247 runs with seven wickets still intact and are in a good position to dictate terms in the remaining two days.First innings centurion Andrew Strauss again played a pivotal role with an unbeaten 73 to pull the tourists out of the pits and put the home team completely on the back foot.India were also able to cross the 200 mark when Harbhajan confidently drove Stephen Harmison to point boundary. In fact, Harbhajan scored nine runs in that over and that forced Pietersen to remove Harmison and bring back Graeme Swann.
In the first over after drinks, Dhoni pulled Panesar to midwicket and started limping on his third run and had medical attention.As the batsmen were coasting towards building up a solid partnership, Harbhajan fell to Panesar, caught at forward short leg by Ian Bell, who earlier could not get his hand to a difficult chance when Dhoni played uppishly off Panesar.
Zaheer Khan, who joined the action after Harbhajan's dismissal, did not stay long and made his exit being adjudged leg before to Flintoff.Dhoni, who continued to suffer from cramps on his right leg, made his exit soon after making his fourth 50 plus runs against England when he went for a slog off Panesar, holding out to Pietersen at long off in the 65th over.
Then Amit Mishra thrived on gamely, hitting two boundaries one each of Panesar and Flintoff, as he helped the team cause to narrow down the deficit to some extent.The Indian innings folded up for 214 in the very first over after the lunch break with Flintoff castling Mishra with the fourth ball.Playing with a cushion of a 75-run first innings lead, England openers started on a sedate note in the second innings with both openers Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook playing out the initial overs watchfully.
The two batsmen were not willing to go for shots off short pitch deliveries, though once or twice Alastair Cook tried to hook both Zaheer and Sharma but failed to connect.Sharma provided the breakthrough by dismissing Cook (9) with a good length delivery, which the batsman checked himself but by then the ball took off from the bat to Dhoni behind the wicket.Mishra, who was given the ball in the ninth over itself ahead of more experienced Harbhajan brought cheers to the Indian camp when he scalped Ian Bell. Bell had no clue to a sharply turning delivery and lounging forward, he gave thick edge to Gautam Gambhir at forward short leg.
With England in a spot of bother, even the captain could not sustain to redeem the situation as Yuvraj Singh struck of his very first delivery.In fact, Yuvraj was so sure of the leg trap that he ran past the middle of the strip in jubilation without turning to the umpire Daryl Harper, who took a while before declaring Pietersen out.
With his side struggling at 43 for 3 in 13.1 overs, Strauss could have alse returned to the pavilion if Dhoni had latched on to a difficult catch when he was on 15. Mishra was the unlucky bowlerThe left-handed Strauss found an able ally in Paul Collingwood (batting 60) as the duo stitched a vital 129-run partnership for the fourth wicket to take the game away from the Indians.With two days left and the MA Chidambaram track expected to deteriorate further, the Englishmen will fancy their chances of going 1-0 up in the two-match series by setting up a daunting target for the Indians who have to bat last.The Indians had themselves to blame for being in such a sorry situation as they batted poorly in the first innings and then failed to peg down the visitors after the three early blows.
The pitch had something for the spinners in the first two sessions but seemed to ease out a little in the last session with the Indian bowlers failing to make much of an impact against the well-settled duo.Strauss, who scored 123 in the first innings, notched up his half-century and played with a great deal of application though he did survive some anxious moments early in the innings.
Earlier, resuming on their overnight score of 155 for six, Dhoni and Harbhajan took upon the battle gamely piling up runs with ease for the seventh wicket but England fought back well in the second hour taking three quick wickets in the space of five overs.Monty Panesar was the most impressive among the English bowlers and captain Kevin Pietersen pinned his hopes on the left-arm spinner.Panesar, who opened the attack from the Pavilion end with a maiden over, scalped both Harbhajan and Dhoni as the visitors got back their hold on the match. Panesar's wicket-taking second spell read an impressive 6-1-17-2.With Harbhajan looking for some quick runs, the Indian scoreboard started moving at a brisk pace. Harbhajan reverse swept Panesar to the ropes to hoist the 50-run stand in 63 minutes off 103 balls between them.
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