da luck： Dileep Premachandran comes up with the plays of the fourth day of the Lord’s Test between England and India

da pinnacle： Dileep Premachandran22-Jul-2007

Monty celebrates all the way to backward point after dismissing Tendulkar with an arm ball © AFP
Nervous 90s? What’s that?: Most batsmen experience a frisson or twoof nervous excitement as they near three figures. Some can get becalmed inthe 90s. Not so Kevin Pietersen, who went from 89 to 93 with a whiplashcover-drive off Anil Kumble. The next ball was sent soaring straight backover the bowler’s head for six, and after a one-ball breather, a powerfulflick through midwicket sparked off the most frenzied, pumped-fistcelebrations seen at this genteel venue since the days of Michael Slater.The pursuit of happiness: Pietersen’s celebrations aren’t quite inthe Monty class though. After trapping Sachin Tendulkar leg before with anarm ball, as he had on debut at Nagpur last year, Monty’sif-you’re-happy-and-you-know-it-clap-your-hands jig of delight took him asfar as point. As for Tendulkar, he walked off towards the old pavilion forthe last time having made just 149 runs in his four Tests here.Weakest link: Rudra Pratap Singh was supposed to be the weak linkin this Indian line-up. Instead, he followed up a tidy first-inningsdisplay [2 for 58] with an inspired one in the second innings. Along theway, he produced the ball of the match, a brutal lifter that caught PaulCollingwood cold. The result? Figures of 5 for 59, and a place on thehonours board, something that has proved beyond Tendulkar and Dravid.Hat-trick hero … not: Having had Matt Prior caught behind and ChrisTremlett bowled via bat and pad, Zaheer Khan found himself on a hat-trickas India fought back superbly following Pietersen’s onslaught. With RyanSidebottom not renowned for his batting prowess, the yorker was the likelyoption, and Zaheer didn’t disappoint, delivering a magnificent one thatwas barely squeezed out.Mixed loyalties: A sizeable crowd had gathered with their beer andsnacks in front of the giant screen behind the Nursery End, and whenDravid was given out leg before, a shouting match broke out between twoAsian men standing around on the grass. “Outside the line,” said thefirst. The second took of his glasses and said: “Here, you need them.You’re bloody blind. That was plumb.” “How can you support England?”mumbled his friend. “It’s my country,” came the reply. Touché.Away from the cricket … : The betting tents outside were chock-full ofpunters that fancied a flutter on the British Open golf, and thetee-and-green bug afflicted plenty in the media centre as well. There wereoohs and aahs as Sergio Garcia missed the putt that would have given himoutright victory over Padraig Harrington, and the fighting partnershipbetween Sourav Ganguly and Dinesh Karthik went almost unnoticed by some asthe Spaniard and the Irishman diced it out at Carnoustie for the honour ofbecoming the first European major winner since 1999.