India find themselves fighting for dear life at the end of day 4 of the Lord's Test. For a short time, they had England under pressure, keeping in mind the first innings batting collapse of the English middle and later orders. But Prior and Pietersen put that to rest with a brisk stand of 119 in 25 overs which took England to safety and beyond. RP Singh took five wickets in the English second innings to become the only Indian (so far) to find his name on the honors board in this years Test match.
In response, India lost their two best batsmen - Tendulkar and Dravid in addition to the first innings half centurion Wasim Jaffer. Dinesh Karthik and Sourav Ganguly have added 53 for the 4th wicket, and i dare say they need to make that 153 tomorrow to give India any chance of survival. Thankfully, a wicket was not lost at the end of the day bringing with it the batting line up disrupting phenomenon of a night-watchman. Ganguly has played the senior partner to the hilt in this stand, helping KKD out when he was getting some lip from the English fielders. It is this hands on approach which has earned for Ganguly the loyalty of his fans. Rahul Dravid might have preferred a quiet word between overs or may be let things play out. Both approaches have their merits. One is not better than the other - one surely does look better than the other.
India have been outplayed for the whole Test match apart from that one session at the beginning of the second day - the day when this Test match was set irrevocably on its current path. They need to win the 5th day decisively to prevent defeat. The forecast for tomorrow shoes an 80% chance of rain, but the drainage at Lord's has basically removed rain delays from the equation (other than when it is actually raining). It should be an intriguing 5th day though - this wicket by all accounts is playing better than a usual 5th day pitch, and with 243 needed, it is quite likely that if India are batting at the end of day 5, they will probably find themselves winners.
England are odds on favorites to win from here. The rain may help India escape with a draw, and some brilliant batting (not in evidence so far from India on this tour, except Tendulkar's 171 and to some extent VVS's 95 and Dhoni's 76 in the tour games) will help India win it. Lets hope the rain stays away and we get a fine day of Test cricket.
Heres an interesting trivia question - Before Ian Bell in this Test match, had any batsman been dismissed playing on to his stumps twice in the same Test match?