England Bounced Back After Follow-on

Ahmedabad: Pragyan Ojha snapped up five wickets to give India a mammoth 330-run lead before England staged a spirited fightback in the second innings to give themselves a slight hope of saving the first Test on Saturday.

England were bundled out for 191 in the first innings with Ojha taking five for 45 while Ravichandran Ashwin took three wickets, prompting India to enforce the follow-on.

But the script changed remarkably in the second innings as skipper Alastair Cook (74 not out) and Nick Compton (34 not out) steered England to 111 for no loss at close on an eventful third day with the visitors still trailing by 219 runs.

With two full days left in the match, India still hold the advantage of going 1-0 up in the four-match series. England will have to bat out of their skin to save the game on a Sardar Patel track that appears to be getting slower.

The visitors showed better application in the second innings, after India, who scored a massive 521 for eight declared, asked them to follow-on.

Left-arm spinner Ojha claimed his career's fourth five-wicket haul with figures of five for 45 in 22.2 overs in his 17th Test while Ashwin grabbed three for 80 in 27 overs.

England, who started the day at 41 for three, were pushed to the brink before they adjourned for the lunch break at 110 for seven. They fought back for a brief while through Matt Prior (48) and Tim Bresnan (19).

Prior was the last man out when he lost his off stump to Ojha.

Bresnan faced 112 balls and hit a couple of boundaries, and showed better application than most of the front-line batsmen.

India shuffled their bowlers constantly and Ojha got the breakthrough by dismissing Bresnan and then followed it up with the wicket of Prior after Zaheer got his only wicket of the innings, trapping Stuart Broad leg before.

England, who lost two wickets at the same score of 69, added one more run before the day's first drinks break, taken after the addition of 29 runs in 17 overs.

In the first hour, Ashwin did not trouble Cook though he kept the left-hander quiet before conceding his first run to Pietersen in his fifth over of the morning.

Ashwin came back immediately after the drinks break and struck in his third over by turning the ball away from Cook who lunged for a drive. Sehwag took a simple catch at slip.

Brief scores
India 521 for 8 dec (Pujara 206*, Sehwag 117, Yuvraj 74, Swann 5-144)
England 191 (Ojha 5-45, Ashwin 3-80) and 111 for 0 (Cook 74*)
Status England trail by 219 runs