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England tantalisingly close to third-Test victory over India

England tantalisingly close to victory
© PA Photos
India hold a slender lead of just 32 runs after day four with one wicket remaining as England close in on victory in the third Test in Kolkata.

England have dominated India on day four of the third Test in India to edge closer to a victory that would see them take a 2-1 lead in the series.

It was a disappointing start to the day for the tourists as they added just 14 runs to their overnight total, losing the final four wickets of their first innings in just 26 minutes.

India appeared buoyed by this quick dismissal as Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir raced to 86-0 at lunch.

However, Sehwag was bowled by Graeme Swann with the first ball of the afternoon session and then the wickets began to tumble.

England reduced India to 145-6 at tea and soon the hosts were eight down.

India lost their seventh wicket soon after tea when the stubborn Virat Kohli (20) edged a Steven Finn delivery to Matt Prior.

Zaheer Khan was only at the crease for four balls before Finn picked up his third wicket by beating the left-armer for pace with a full delivery that smacked into Khan's pads in front of the stumps.

Ishant Sharma came in to join Ravichandran Ashwin with the hosts on 159-8 and the pair batted for over an hour to stifle England's rampant afternoon.

However, Sharma departed after accumulating 10 runs from 53 balls when Monty Panesar clean-bowled him with the hosts on 197, 10 runs adrift of England's total.

That brought number 11 Pragyan Ojha to the crease and he stuck around as Ashwin hit a pair of boundaries off Swann to reach his 50 and level the scores.

That meant that England would be unable to claim just their second-ever innings victory in India.

Ashwin and Ojha knew the game was up and decided to please the crowd, changing to an aggressive mindset against the spin duo of Swann and Panesar.

England grabbed the new ball when available, bringing Finn and James Anderson back into the attack but the fast-paced duo were unable to remove Ashwin (83*) and Ojha (3*).

The tourists require one wicket and will then need to bat out the difference, which currently stands at 32 runs, tomorrow.

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Pascal Lemesre
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