England tighten grip on fourth Test as India crumble

Fourth Test, The Oval (day three):

England 591-6 v India 103-5

Fourth Test

• Venue: The Oval
• Date: August 18-22
• Start time: 1100 BST
• Coverage: Live ball-by-ball Test Match Special commentary on BBC 5 live sports extra, BBC Radio 4 Long Wave & BBC Sport website; live video scorecard on Red Button (not Freeview); live text commentary on BBC Sport website & mobile; watch live on Sky Sports (subscription required); highlights each evening on Channel 5

 

 Swann celebrates the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar at The Oval 

England tightened their grip on the fourth Test against India by posting a massive first innings total and tearing through the tourists' fragile top order.

Ian Bell took his score to a Test-best 235 as England batted positively from the outset to lift their first innings total to 591-6 before rain stopped play at the lunch interval.
The loss of 35 overs prompted Andrew Strauss to declare and England made the perfect start with the ball by removing Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman in the first four overs.
Graeme Swann then snared Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina and nightwatchman Ishant Sharma as India crumbled to 103-5, with Rahul Dravid standing tall through the mayhem to reach 57 not out.

Saturday's play summed up the series, with England flaying the tourists' bowling before underlining their supremacy with a clatter of wickets.
The contrast between the teams' attitude to preparation was summed-up during the rain delay.
While the England squad went through a lengthy warm-up routine, not a single India player set foot on the outfield to get loosened up for the re-start.
India began their innings effectively a man down with opener Gautam Gambhir receiving medical treatment for concussion after his head hit the ground when he dropped Kevin Pietersen on Friday afternoon.
Sehwag, out for a king pair at Edgbaston, scored his first runs of the series successive fours off James Anderson. But the last ball of the first over thudded into his pads and umpire Simon Taufel raised the finger.
Laxman was the next to fall, hanging the bat out to a ball from Stuart Broad that nipped off the seam and took the edge.

England Vs India 4th Test Match 18 Aug

 England Vs India 4th Test Match 18 Aug 
The fourth and the final Test match between India and England will be played from August 18 and will be played at the Oval in London. England have already won the series by taking a 3-0 lead and will be looking to make it a one-sided rout, by winning all the four matches in the series as well. However, the Indians, more than the rout will be worried about the fact that if they lose the series 4-0 will be gone down to the fourth position in the Test match world.




It is interesting to see that only has India lost the three games, they have also struggled to even get close to the English side. The first game, they had a chance to draw the game by batting through the last day of the game but in the second Test match they lost by more than 300 runs and in the third Test, it was an innings and 250 run defeat to the world champions, hardly an easy thing to fathom.
Injuries have obviously been an issue in the series and it was no better as the side will now go into the fourth Test match without, in all probability the presence of Praveen Kumar. Praveen injured himself after bowling so many overs in the first three Test matches that it was only likely that even without the injury he would find it difficult to play the game because of sheer exhaustion.
On the other hand, the big question is whether he has anyone else to replace him in the squad. The answer is either Munaf Patel or RP Singh, but how match fit the two of them are is anyone's guess. Munaf hasn't played too many games since injuring himself in the West Indies, whereas RP Singh has only jsut landed in England and was never in the radar for the selection.
Interestingly, for the second time, it will be England who have injury issues as well, what with their best bowler, James Anderson feeling the grief of playing so many games. It remains to be seen whether he will make it through to the playing 11 but if he does not, Steven Finn or Graham Onions could replace him in the squad.
The pitch will be hard at Oval and life could be difficult for the Indians yet again.