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Indian batsmen today didn't throw away the advantage that was created by their bowlers with a disciplined show. Guided by half centuries from their two openers and Sachin Tendulkar, India are into a lead of 56 runs with seven wickets standing. Earlier England were shot out for less than 200 with Zaheer and Kumble doing the clean up job.

England had three wickets in hand as they resumed today's play. They got off to a lucky start with Anil Kumble's skidder often going over the top of the stumps of Chris Tremlett. England did make some progress through some fine batting display from Ryan Sidebottom. It was just matter of time till Anil Kumble finally got one to strike the stumps of Tremlett with a quicker delivery. Zaheer Khan got rid of Monty Panesar, who was caught well by VVS Laxman in the slips. Zaheer was looking for a five-wicket haul but couldn't as Kumble cleaned up Anderson's off stump with a skidder. England got bundled out for 198 in 65.3 overs. Zaheer finished with 4 for 59 in 21 overs and Kumble with 3 for 32 in 12.3 overs.

The Indians surprisingly got off to a solid opening start. Both Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer looked to have been batting to a plan to counter the swing of the new ball. They were successful in their implementation and the occasional half volley rewarded them with the runs. India went smoothly into lunch at 40 for no loss in the 16 overs before lunch. The second session with the sun continuing to shine gloriously, the two openers continued from where they had left in the previous session. Dinesh Karthik was a touch aggressive while Jaffer was showing lot of calmness in his batting. Overs after overs went by without a wicket for England. Even Monty Panesar couldn't find a breakthrough and was even lofted by both the openers for boundaries. Eventually England finally had a reason to smile when Chris Tremlett produced a nice lifter off the good length region to force Jaffer to glove it behind. Jaffer fell after a very good 62 that came in 123 balls with 7 fours.

Rahul Dravid walked in with the score at 147 for 1 with the ball just over 42 overs old. That was a good time to come in for a no.3 batsman with just a few balls to negotiate before Tea. There was a twist in the tale when Monty Panesar with the first ball of the last session brought England back in the game with the wicket of Dinesh Karthik, caught bat pad by Alastair Cook in an attempted flick. Karthik played outstandingly well for his 77 that came in 136 balls with 11 fours. England finally felt good on the field with two new batsmen in the middle looking to get their eye in, one of them was Sachin Tendulkar. It was a slow start from Tendulkar, but he didn't have to play at plenty of deliveries that were harmlessly leaving his offstump. At a personal score of 5, he was dangerously struck on his visor by a sharp bouncer from Jimmy Anderson, but fortunately no damage was done. Tendulkar got warming up to the task with every minute passed by, he also went past the 11,000 runs with a cover drive off Monty for a boundary.

India were progressing well through the partnership between Dravid and Tendulkar which got them into the lead. Towards the last part of the day's play, Dravid threw away his wicket with a loose drive off Monty to be caught brilliantly by Bell at covers. Dravid fell for 37 which had come in 94 balls with 5 fours. The partnership between Dravid and Tendulkar put 97 runs for the third wicket which consolidated the openers' efforts. Bad light brought a slightly early end to the day but by then Sourav Ganguly had announced his arrival with a sweet cover drive for a boundary off Panesar. At stumps on the second day, Tendulkar is still there with 57 from 111 balls with six fours and Ganguly is on 4. India have got to 254 for 4 in 79 overs at a fairly good run rate. England have lot of work with lot of batting left for India. The second new ball holds the key and it is just one over away! The Indians will look to bat normally and get a big first innings lead to put pressure on the England batsmen.

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