The first day of the final Test at The Oval saw India dominating England after an excellent display of batting. After Rahul Dravid won the toss and chose to bat, Dinesh Karthik was circumspect while Wasim Jaffer showed no such restraint as he unleashed a flurry of strokes.

The one that cleared the fence square of the wicket was the highlight of his brief cameo. Just when it looked like he might run away with the first session, he got out by finding Kevin Pietersen with pinpoint accuracy in the deep. England got a bonus, but Dravid walked in and ensured that the advantage remained with the visitors.

Karthik had settled down by now and, along with the skipper, took India to a healthy 117 for one at lunch. He overcame his initial caution and slowly opened out, keeping the scoreboard ticking at a steady rate thereafter. The century stand between Dravid and Karthik came to an end as Dravid was castled by Anderson. England struck again when Karthik was caught behind by Matt Prior in what appeared to be a highly debatable decision.

'The Indian batsmen should put their heads down and ensure that they need to bat just once'


India seem to have got the short end of the stick as far as umpiring decisions go in this Test series and today was no different. Worse was to come later in the day as umpire Ian Howell completely missed a thick inside edge while adjudging Sourav Ganguly leg before. Karthik was unlucky to miss out on what was a well-deserved hundred, but along with Jaffer the young guns have given enough evidence that the problems at the top for India can be set aside for the present.

The scoreboard at tea read 213 for three, but India pressed ahead with their advantage as Sachin Tendulkar and Ganguly strung together an invaluable but highly unconvincing 77-run partnership. Ganguly in his knock of 37 hoisted Monty Panesar straight down the ground for one of his effortless sixes, but could not do further damage as he was sent packing by the umpire.

Tendulkar and VVS Laxman saw off the English until stumps. Prior, whose wicketkeeping abilities have come in for a lot of criticism, dropped Tendulkar when he was on 20 - this could be a costly miss. Tendulkar has made the opposition pay heavily for dropped chances and if he comes good here again, England will have an uphill task to save the match. 

Unlike the past, where they have frittered away the advantage on numerous occasions, the Indian batsmen should put their heads down and ensure that they need to bat just once in this match. The ideal approach would be to bury England under a mountain of runs.

India, who closed on 316 for four,  seek to record their first series win in England in 21 years and they have made the right start towards achieving their goal. Friday promises to be absorbing with both teams having much to play for.