Teammates congratulate James Anderson for dismissing Sachin Tendulkar cheaply at the Oval on Sunday. (AP)

London: Despite having the hosts at his mercy, India captain Rahul Dravid’s baffling decision not to enforce a follow-on threatens to boomerang as England made a solid start to save the third and final Test on Sunday.

Entrusted with the task of defying history by scoring 500 runs in a minimum of 110 overs, England, in their second essay, reached 56 without loss on the penultimate day. Alastair Cook (27) and Andrew Strauss (23) were at the crease.

Dravid’s decision was all the more surprising since the weatherman had predicted rains on the last two days that will surely rob the Test of some valuable time.

The Indian side took long time before declaring their second innings at 180 for six just an hour before close.

Sourav Ganguly (57), V.V.S. Laxman (46 not out) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (36) were the batsmen to do well for India after England sliced through the top order reducing India to 11 for three in the seventh over.

However, Dravid decided not to enforce the follow-on as his team batted a second time and immediately courted disaster losing Wasim Jaffer (0), Dinesh Karthik (8) and Sachin Tendulkar (1) with just 11 runs on the board by the seventh over.

Jaffer was the first to go to a bizarre leg before decision by umpire Ian Howell.

Sachin walked out to a standing ovation in what appears to be his last innings in a Test in England but could last no more than 14 minutes and 11 balls.

Sourav, however, rolled back the years with a scintillating knock.

The left-hander was willing to play his shots under pressure and looked in fine touch too, taking three fours off Anderson on the off side.

He repeatedly pierced the packed off side field with lovely timing and placements to pick up handy boundaries and brought up his half-century off just 53 balls hitting nine fours.

It was then left to Collingwood to stop Sourav. He was caught driving away at a ball that moved away from him. Strauss took the catch at first slip.

In contrast, Dravid struggled for two hours and 20 minutes to make just 12 runs off 96 balls before Collingwood ended his misery by forcing him to nick one to second slip.

In the morning, Anil Kumble trapped Monty Panesar (9) which not only dropped curtains on England’s first innings for 345 runs but also earned the Indian his 564th Test wicket.

Kumble thus sneaked ahead of Glenn McGrath to become the third leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, behind Shane Warne (708) and Muttiah Muralidharan (700).

(AGENCIES)

HUGE TARGETS SET BY INDIA

The victory target of 500 that India have set England at the Oval is their second-biggest in Tests. Following is the list of top-10 targets set by India:

509 — vs SL in Ahmedabad, 2005-06 (won by 259 runs)

500 — vs Eng at the Oval, 2007 (match in progress)

472 — vs SL in Colombo (SSC), 1990-91 (won by 235 runs)

461 — vs SA in Kanpur, 1996-97 (won by 280 runs)

443 — vs Aus in Sydney, 2003-04 (drawn)

436 — vs SL in New Delhi, 2005-06 (won by 188 runs)

424 — vs NZ in Ahmedabad, 1999-00 (drawn)

422 — vs Pak in Calcutta, 2004-05 (won by 195 runs)

421 — vs Eng in Calcutta, 1961-62 (won by 187 runs)

420 — vs Pak in New Delhi, 1998-99 (won by 212 runs)