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India is really dominating this Test Match as of now. In fact it is very good come back by India in this Test series, Indian looked shaky during first Test match at Lords, but weather God came over to help them, and then after, India bounced back hard and won second Test match.

First Session
Let’s talk about Third day of this Test match at Oval, India had upper hand on both days of the Test match, yesterday England lost one wicket for the score of 24 runs, their not out batsmen, Cook and James Anderson, who came as a nightwatchman yesterday after the wicket of Strauss. Cook was lucky when he was dropped by Dinesh Karthik at leg slip in forth over of the day, it was sitter!!!

Both batsmen started well to see off the initial overs of the day and frustrated Indian bowlers; but finally, nightwatchman James Anderson trapped LBW in the bowling of RP Singh, he frustrated Indians by adding crucial 66 runs partnership with Cook.

After the wicket of James Anderson, England captain Vaughan joined Cook at the crease, Cook soon finished his first half century of the series with boundary in 77 balls. Both added 41 runs partnership before Cook became victim of Anil Kumble (Hero of Day Two), Cook scored 61 runs in 98 balls with the help of eleven boundaries. England’s score was 119 for three wickets.

Few overs later Anil Kumble struck again with crucial wicket of England captain Vaughan, he misread googly by Kumble and gave away simple catch back to Anil Kumble. This was very important wicket for Indians because their fast bowlers bowled below par today morning and that allowed England batsmen to play freely. At the time of Lunch England were 124 for four wickets.

Second Session
Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood stabilized the England innings after fall of three quick wickets. Pietersen, who plays aggressive game, started his inning with patience today. England completed their 200 runs in 60th over of their inning.

Rahul Dravid brought Sachin Tendulkar in attack before Tea, and man with Golden Arm struck with his very first ball to get Kevin Pietersen out, he bowled excellent leg spin to get this wicket, Indian captain equally took good catch at first slip. At the time of Tea England were at 210 for five wickets, and England needed 454 more runs to make India bat again.

Third Session
Collingwood and Bell resumed England inning after Tea to rebuild England inning, Collingwood played some aggressive shots after the tea and finished his half century in ninety balls, on the other side Bell also played some nice shots and brought up his fifty in 77 balls with help of nine boundaries.

Indian Captain opted for new balls when 17 overs of the day were left, and his decision proved on target when Sreesanth took wicket of well set Paul Collingwood in first over after new ball was taken, he trapped in front of the stumps, he played determined inning of 62 runs but it was not enough for England.

Matt Prior joined Ian Bell, now this was last pair of specialist batsmen on the crease, but India bowler charged in well after taking new ball, few overs later Zaheer Khan smacked with wicket of Ian Bell, who gave an easy edge to wicket-keeper MS Dhoni, Bell scored 63 runs.

Zaheer Khan struck few balls later in same over with the wicket of tail-ender Sidebottom. Few overs later Sreesanth bowled well directed out swinger to trap Prior, who gave easy catch to Sachin Tendulkar at first slip. England were at 305 for loss of nine wickets. Remaining six overs of the day were safely seen off by last pair, Tremlett and Panesar.

At the close of Day three England made 326 runs for nine wickets and they are still trail by 338, it was another fine day for India, they are definitely in driver’s seat at this moment, England really need to work hard tomorrow to save this Test match. Indian fast bowlers didn’t do well until the new ball was taken, but Kumble provided some crucial breakthrough to keep pressure on England.

Hope you guys are enjoying my analysis of this test match, I have also placed live score card on this blog to give you live update of the match. I will come up with Day 4 review tomorrow. Please feel free to comment on this blog.

India started Day 2 on positive note. Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman both managed to see off the first session of the day, not only that they also kept the score board twinkling. India added 113 runs in 27 overs in first session of Day Two, while England grabbed two wickets, which included well set Tendulkar and Laxman.

It was definitely batsmen’ day today, Sachin, Laxman and Dhoni all crossed fifty run marks. Sachin Tendulkar once again missed century, he got out at 82 runs, Laxman scored well made 51 runs and Dhoni blitzed his inning of 92 runs only in 81 balls with nine boundaries and four big sixes.

But Hero of the day was Anil Kumble who scored his maiden Test Century in his 118th test and 151st test innings. Kudos to Anil Kumble!!! He was very well supported by Indian tail-enders. He remained unbeaten at the score of 110, which included sixteen boundaries and one huge six. Now Kumble has intresting record on his name, He has taken the highest number of Tests to reach his maiden test hundred. He took 118 Test appearances, beating Chaminda Vaas’ record of 97.

Each of Indian batsman scored in double digits and higher, it happned 12th time in test history. India put on a huge score of 664 on the board.

Weather was excellent on Day 1 of the Third Test Match between India and England, play started on time, Indian captain Dravid won the toss and decided to take batting without a second thought on firm and dry batsmen friendly pitch at Oval.

Both side kept the same XI they fielded in this series. Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik began Indian inning; they got off the mark positively and confidently. Both batsmen played some fine shots on both sides of the wicket.

Both added 50 runs partnership for India in only 13 overs; Wasim Jaffer was first batsmen to get out at the score of 35 runs and India were at 62 for 1 wicket. Jaffer was trapped by England captain Vaughan who sent Kevin Pietersen from gully to short third-man position, it rewarded with Jaffer’s wicket. He added good opening stand with Dinesh Karthik.

Rahul Dravid walked in to replace Jaffer, Dravid made his intension clear by hitting some aggressive shots. Both batsmen kept the scoreboard ticking over. India reached 100 runs mark in 23rd over of the Day.

Karthik finished another half century in 28th over, a last over before lunch. He took 77 balls to reach his 6th half-century. At the time of lunch India were 117 runs for 1 wicket, they made solid start to their first innings and both batsmen, especially Karthik looked well settled to make big score.

In second over after lunch Karthik was dropped by Andrew Strauss at short cover in the bowling of Monty Panesar, it was tough catch; it would have been a great catch if he had gotten it. After this dropped chance he didn’t play anything silly and capitalized Indian innings with his partner Rahul Dravid who completed his fifty in 83 balls with 8 smashing boundaries, I will tell you that this is Dravid’s one of the aggressive innings I have seen recently.

His celebration of half century didn’t last long as he got out soon after reaching his half century, he was bowled by James Anderson with a pitch of a delivery, he and Karthik added important partnership of 127 runs and provided base for big score,.

Tendulkar got standing ovation from the crowd as it might be his last appearance in a Test Match in England, India’s score was 189 for loss of two wickets when he joined Dinesh Karthik at the crease. Tendulkar started his inning with caution.

Dinesh Karthik also followed Rahul Dravid in dressing room after a 10 runs partnership with Tendulkar, he became victim of nervous ninety, he got out at the score of 91 in bowling of Sidebottom; he deserved a hundred.

Sourav Ganguly joined Tendulkar at the crease, England had good opportunity to bounce back here as they had taken two quick wickets to put India on back foot, a wicket or two here could be helpful to them, but both experience player showed maturity and kept their wicket intact. By the time of Tea India made 207 runs for 3 wickets and their two in-form batsmen Sachin and Sourav are on the crease, second session of the day was mix bag for India as they had score 94 runs for loss of two wickets in 28 overs, in this session India lost both of their well set batsmen.

Ganguly and Tendulkar resumed Indian inning after tea, both were negotiating England bowling comfortably, but in 67th over of the match Tendulkar was given an easy chance by their wicketkeeper Prior, it was catchable to him, Tendulkar was on score of 20, now only time will tell how costly this catch is going to be. Both added 50 runs partnership in 103 balls.

In 80th over of the match, Ganguly got out in bowling of Paul Collingwood, replays showed that he was unlucky to be given out LBW, it was a big inside edge, Paul Collingwood taken second wicket of the series but both were came as gift from umpires. He got out at the personal score of 37 in which he hit 4 boundaries and a six.

VVS Laxman joined Tendulkar out in the middle to face last ten overs of the day; England took new ball in 83rd over of the match with belief of getting a wicket or two, but both batsmen, saw off second new ball without any difficulties and took India through the end of the Day 1, India’s score was 316 runs for 4 wickets, with Tendulkar playing on 48 and Laxman on 16 runs. India took honor of the day with some good batting by their top order batsmen.

It would be interesting to see how England fight back on day two, couple of wicket in morning session will definitely do good for England; their bowlers didn’t do well today since pitch wasn’t moving much, along with pitch their fielders also let them down by dropping couple of catches, on this kind of batting favoring pitches you have convert 50% chance in to 100%.

On the other side Tendulkar must be thinking about making a century on England soil, interestingly none of Indian batsmen have score century in this series yet.

Tomorrow I will come up with review of Day 2 of Third Test Match at Oval, and yes, you can get update of live score here on my website, I have installed scorecard on right sidebar of the website.