India took the honours on the first day of the final test against England at the Oval on Thursday by finishing the day at 316 for 4.It was hot sunny day at the Oval and it was obvious that the captain winning the toss would opt to bat and Indian skipper Rahul Dravid did just that.
His decision was vindicated by the openers Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthick who put on 62 for the first wicket in just over 14 overs. Jaffer played a breezy 35 off 47 balls with 6 fours and 1 six before he was caught at third man by Kevin Pieterson off the bowling of James Anderson. Karthick continued his good form in the series and was involved in a 127 run partnership with skipper Rahul Dravid.Dravid played well to score a sedate 55 but was bowled by an unplayable inswinging yorker from Anderson.
Karthick looked set to get his first hundred of the series when he was caught behind by England keeper Matt Prior off the bowling of Ryan Sidebottom for a nicely crafted 91.
Unfortunately for England, this was one of the very few things Prior did right in the day as he conceded 5 byes which cost four runs each and more importantly dropped Sachin Tendulkar when he was on 20. Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly played all the English bowlers with ease especially Monty Panesar. Panesar’s agony was epitomized by a trademark Ganguly six over long-on. However, it wasn’t all hunky dory for Ganguly as he was again a victim of horrible umpiring, being given out leg-before by Umpire Ian Howell when there was clearly a thick inside edge. It certainly made a case for Howell to be told that he wasn’t on a beach and be asked to remove his shades.
There were no further dismissals and Tendulkar and VVS Laxman ended the day being not out on 48 and 20 respectively. India should not get complacent and try to build up a huge score as England have a history of conceding 400 plus runs in the first innings and still winning an Oval match, most notably against South Africa in 2003.
Image Source:Rahul Dravid
