Hussain and Stewart carry the fight into fifth day Considering India's position at the end of the fourth day at Headingley, all those pundits who gave the side a snowball's chance in hell of levelling the series at Leeds must be scurrying to find reasons for being proved wrong. Granted that, at 239 for four, with Nasser Hussain pulling out a gritty unbeaten 90 just when his side needed it, England could still scrape through to a draw. But India have certainly held the upper hand for most of this Test, especially during their tenure at the crease. Further, Sourav Ganguly's gamble of playing both spinners paid off, with Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh picking six wickets between them in England's first innings. Hussain and Alec Stewart (40 not out) are worthwhile adversaries, with Stewart in particular being in what appears to be the form of his life. But India still lead by 116 runs, and on a fifth-day pitch with everything to play for, the punters cannot help but back the tourists to prevail.

Fletcher praises battling England pair England coach Duncan Fletcher praised skipper Nasser Hussain and veteran Alec Stewart but said that the home team still had a major battle to salvage the third Test against India on the final day. Hussain closed on 90 not out after a dogged unbroken 91-run stand with Stewart (40 not out) to keep England clinging on. "He's a tough individual. Nasser seems to play his best knocks when it gets difficult, while Alec, at 39, plays like a 33-year-old and keeps on working on his game," said Fletcher. "They showed their experience but we still have a huge battle on our hands. We'll play it session by session." "The guys showed a lot of character. It is the kind of wicket where you can't really get on top of the bowling," continued Fletcher. "We are there to make history, and if that means the eighth or ninth wicket puts on 200 so be it. We have to go and scrap it out. We have a lot of cricket ahead of us here and we just have to go out and get as many runs as we can." India coach John Wright added, "It's still a game to win, and that's what we are looking to do on Monday. We realised it wasn't going to be easy. We would have liked to claim one or two wickets in the final session, they made it hard for us. The earlier we break this stand the better but even then three will be one established player there." "We'll make the right decisions tomorrow, I'm sure of it," said Wright. The Indian coach also defended his players against suggestions of over-appealing during the final session. "From what I saw on the television I didn't think it was excessive."

Gavaskar: Tendulkar is the most complete batsman the game has seen Sunil Gavaskar has always been a great fan of Sachin Tendulkar, but even this incontrovertible fact did not presage his showering the little champion with cricket's ultimate accolade. Writing in Daily Telegraph after Tendulkar's 30th Test hundred, Gavaskar let slip that despite the enormity of "Bradman's achievements, Tendulkar is the closest thing to batting perfection I've seen - in terms of technique and temperament". "If you have a look at some of the film of Bradman, you see his bat came from third man. Because Bradman was Bradman, he could see the ball incredibly early and score at a phenomenal rate. Tendulkar's bat comes down very straight, he is perfectly balanced off either foot, and there is not a shot he cannot play. He is probably the most complete batsman the game has seen," Gavaskar, while explaining his monumental statement, observed.

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