Dravid's ton sees India
avoid the follow-on

England vs India: 4th Test: Day 3 The Oval, England Report status: Stumps

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Rahul Dravid struck his third century in as many innings as the 'big three' clicked in unison once again to place India at a comfortable 315/4 on the third day of the fourth and final Test against England at the London Oval on Saturday.

Morning session:

Dravid hit yet another half-century as India made decent progress in their first innings to reach 151/2 at lunch on the third day of the fourth and final cricket Test against England at the Oval in London on Saturday.

Dravid, who has struck a purple patch in this series, was unbeaten on 65 at the break in the company of Sachin Tendulkar who was batting on a fluent 38 in his 100th Test.

Earlier, India, who resumed at their overnight 66 for one, lost Sanjay Bangar for 21 while adding 85 runs to their total in the 25 overs bowled in the morning session.

Dravid and Tendulkar have so far added 64 runs in an entertaining third-wicket partnership that has seen Tendulkar execute some brilliant strokes.

The master batsman, who walked in to a standing ovation from the crowd, played and missed a few deliveries outside his off-stump, but did not let that affect his concentration.

He produced some elegant drives on the offside and straight down the track, and has so far hit eight boundaries in his 62-ball innings.

Dravid, who resumed at his overnight 31, was his usual cautious self though he too was prompt in punishing the loose deliveries. Dravid has so far faced 137 balls and hit 11 boundaries.

Bangar, who came up with a fine innings of 68 in the third Test at Headingley, Leeds, did well this time too as he doggedly guarded his wicket. But a momentary lapse of concentration saw him pushing at an outgoing delivery from Matthew Hoggard and Mark Butcher gleefully pouched the edge at first slip.

Post-lunch session:

Rahul Dravid scored his third successive century of the series against England as India reached 260 for three at tea on Day 3 of the fourth and final Test at the London Oval on Saturday.

The Indian vice-captain was batting on 109 at the break. Keeping him company was skipper Sourav Ganguly on 37.

The 29-year-old Dravid flicked left-arm spinner Ashley Giles behind square for a single to complete his thirteenth Test century. He had scored 115 in the second innings of the drawn second Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, and 148 in India's only innings in the third Test at Headingley, Leeds.

Dravid had shared a partnership of 91 runs with Sachin Tendulkar, which looked to be taking on dangerous proportions before pace bowler Andrew Caddick dismissed the latter for 54 shortly after the lunch break (India 178/3).

Tendulkar, who went from 38 at lunch to 49 with three singles and two fours, the second one punched through the covers off the back foot with such venom that not a fielder moved, brought up his 34th Test half-century with a single off Giles. But he was trapped lbw by an inswinging delivery that struck him full on the boot. The aggressive Tendulkar struck 10 fours.

Post-tea session:

The final session of the day was nothing to write home about. Apart from the wicket of skipper Sourav Ganguly, who fell trying to hook a bouncer from medium-pacer Dominic Cork soon after reaching his fifty, there was very little by way of action, thanks to England skipper Nasser Hussain's negativism.

Belying their huge score of 515, all the English pace bowlers, with the exception of Matthew Hoggard, pitched the ball well short so that most of the deliveries went sailing over the heads of the batsmen while Ashley Giles reverted to his favourite line outside the leg stump. And with Dravid going into his shell, that meant the final session became the perfect soporific.

Dravid, who scored 115 and 148 in his two previous knocks, played his familiar sheet-anchor role to perfection and remained unbeaten on 131 when bad light stopped play about seven overs before the scheduled close.

V V S Laxman, who missed out on big scores in the last couple of matches, was batting on 14 at stumps.

Dravid thus became the fifth Indian to score successive centuries in three innings. Sunil Gavaskar, who has achieved the feat twice, Vijay Hazare, Polly Umrigar, and Vinod Kambli are the other Indians in the distinguished list of 23 players to have scored three or more centuries in consecutive innings.

Dravid is now just eight runs short of completing 1000 runs this calendar year.

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