Cricket:England's persistence continued to reap rewards today as India attempted to bat their way to a series triumph and halt the tourist's fightback in the final Test. The England attack continued to make inroads into India's batting line-up as the hosts attempted to bat long enough to end what little hope the tourists had of forcing a positive result to level the series.
Having dismissed England for 302 to establish a 151-run first-innings advantage - claiming their last four wickets for just 20 runs in 44 minutes - India had hoped to score quickly enough to secure another win to finish the series.
But after losing opener Virender Sehwag in the sixth over of their reply to a run-out, India decided to bat out time and crawled to 90 for four from 40 overs by late afternoon on the fourth day.
England had begun the day 171 runs adrift on 282 for six, hoping to frustrate India to prevent them taking control of the final two days, but the innings lasted only a further 10.5 overs.
Their struggles began with the 13th ball of the day when new batsman Matt Prior attempted a leg glance off spinner Harbhajan Singh and was caught by India captain MS Dhoni standing up to the stumps.
He was followed in Harbhajan's next over when Stuart Broad shouldered arms to a delivery which he thought would turn but which instead continued its path and knocked back his off stump.
India turned to left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan after several overs of leg-spinner Amit Mishra from the other end and the change of bowling earned another breakthrough in his second over.
New batsman Graeme Swann had allowed the previous two deliveries to swing away outside off stump but his middle stump was removed with the next ball, which surprised him and swung in to edge India closer to a massive first-innings lead.
Last man Monty Panesar lasted four overs until the innings ended with Harbhajan claiming his third wicket of the morning when the England spinner edged to short leg, as England lost four wickets for 20 runs in 10.5 overs and six for 22 since yesterday afternoon.
India's reply began promisingly enough with their opening pair racing to 30 without loss in six overs before Sehwag ran himself out going for a quick single off Broad.
His demise prompted a change of emphasis for India, who added only 14 runs in the next 13 overs before Rahul Dravid was bowled for a 19-ball duck by a full-length delivery from James Anderson which kept low.
Anderson claimed his second wicket six overs before tea when Sachin Tendulkar steered a back foot shot to the gully to lift England hopes of preventing a Test series whitewash.
They claimed a further reward midway through the final session with all-rounder Andrew Flintoff swooping at cover to run out VVS Laxman, his team-mate at Lancashire next season, after Gambhir had called for a quick single off Panesar.