New Delhi: England have set India a daunting target of 313 runs to win in final match of the three-match Test series at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.
The highest total that a team has ever chased in the fourth innings of a Test match to win in India is 276 by the West Indies way back in 1987.
Anil Kumble was the most successful bowler for India picking up four wickets in his 30.4 overs giving away just 49 runs.
India began its run chase with an unusual opening combination of Irafan Pathan and Wasim Jaffer as Virender Sehwag could not take to the field due to due back spasms.
And the nightmare started soon after the run-chase began as James Anderson sent back Pathan into the pavilion with the team score at six, all of which came off the bat of Pathan.
When the play was called off for the day India were 18 for one with nightwatchman Anil Kumble on eight and Jaffer on four.
The bug bear of India in the match, poor fielding, kept on haunting the team even on the fourth day with VVS Laxman, in the field for diposed vice-captain Virender Sehwag, grassing a catch of Owais Shah the slips early on the fouth day.
The bowler to suffer was once again Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, who had seen a catch of being dropped by the reliable Yuvraj Singh at point.
However Irfan Pathan who was having a poor run with the ball sent back nightwatchman Shaun Udal, who was caught by Wasim Jaffer after making 14 runs.
Kevin Pietersen, too, did not last long as Anil Kumble had him caught and bowled for just seven.
England managed to go into the lunch break without further trouble with Owais Shah batting on 38 and the team at 85 for four.
But Shah was run out by Tendulkar soon after the break without adding anu run to his pre-lunch score.
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After the fall of three quick wickets it seemed that India would wipe out England soon but that was not to be.
Skipper Andrew Flintoff and Paul Collingwood started to rebuild England innings with a responsible display of batting. Both of them looked in no hurry as they settled down even though the scoring rate was very slow.
They were also helped by a wayward Indian attack and the neagative line adopted by both the Indian spinners.
Rahul Dravid's decision to bowl Anil Kumble from round the wicket defies all logic as Kumble is not a great turner of the ball and the question of getting LBWs is also negated.
Harbhajan Singh, who has had a very ordinary series till date, took two quick wickets top bring back the smiles back in the Indian camp.
He first brilliantly caught Collingwood off his own bowling and then had Geraint Jones caught by Pathan.
While Collingwood made 32 with the help of three fours, Jones managed to score only three.
The old warhorse Kumble soon wrapped up the England tail to bowl the visitors out for 191 runs. He first had Matthew Hoggard LBW for six and then had James Anderson caught by his skipper for six.
England have the upper hand and pacer James Anderson had sounded confident on the third day about his team piling up a formidable second innings total and putting India under pressure in the fourth innings.
"It's good that we have a 150-plus advantage. We would work on it and make it into a bigger total. We will see how the situation is by tea," Anderson said after the third day's play.
Scorecard
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