Dravid saves India from ignominy

Dravid's ton at Lords, saved India from the ignominy of following on. India went past the 274 mark, thanks to his superb century. With this milestone, Dravid has gone past Ponting, as No 2 Test scorer in the history of the game. India were all out for 284 and just avoided the follow on. England are 5/0, after declaring at 474/8 in the first innings.

He was behind 49 runs behind Ponting when the match started.

Here are the stats

Sachin Tendulkar: 14726
Rahul Dravid: 12373
Ricky Ponting: 12363
Brian Lara: 11953
Jacques Kallis: 11947
Alan Border: 11174
Steve Waugh: 10927
Sunil Gavaskar: 10122

Fifteen years ago, the Wall fell in the nervous nineties and now he has proved to the world that he is not over the hill.

The briliant double ton scored by KP was superb. Boycott says he was out at 49, but umpire Asad Rauf's lacked of conviction saved him. He was out caught in the leg slip, but Rauf referred it to the third umpire. This however does not diminish the brilliance of KP !

To KP England owes a lot to its dominance in this Test match. Even though Luck had graced England, still they could contain the best ranked Test team in the world.

Meanwhile, Kapil has criticised Zaheer. If he was not fully fit, why was he taken ? There are other equally good swing bowlers and India owes a lot to its pitiable state to its poor selection.

Boycott wrote in the "Daily Telegraph" "The only blot on the day was the poor decision by the square leg umpire, Asad Rauf, when he should have given Pietersen out caught at leg slip when he was on 49.

"He had an uninterrupted clear view from 20 yards away and chickened out of making the correct decision. Anybody who works in television will tell you that low catches will always look as if the ball has bounced before being caught,"

"Batsmen throughout the game know that if a low catch is referred to television umpire there is every chance they will get away with it. I don't blame the batsman for standing. I blame the umpire for not having the courage of his convictions and making the decision without television."

Boycott critised India's bowling performance in the absence of Zaheer.

"It is not Pietersen's fault that India were one bowler short and their other bowling wasn't special. Harbhajan Singh made no impact whatsoever, Ishant Sharma tried his best but his inexperience and inability to put the ball in awkward areas showed up time and again," said the dour ex England batsman.

"Praveen Kumar is military medium but swung the ball and fully deserved his successful haul of five wickets which shows that in Test cricket, provided you move the ball off straight and narrow, you have a chance of getting people out.

"But with this bowling line up you wonder how the hell India are going to take England wickets without Zaheer Khan. Even more so, you wonder how they got to number one in the world," he added.