England on the back foot

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South African official Ian Howell gave out Dinesh Karthik (91) caught behind off Ryan Sidebottom and Sourav Ganguly (37) leg before wicket to Paul Collingwood.

Television replays showed both decisions to be wrong as Karthik missed the ball while Ganguly gained a thick inside edge but Lancashire pacemen James Anderson struck twice legitimately as England toiled in their bid for victory.

England need to record a win in south London to avoid a first home series defeat since 2001 but were asked to field first by India captain Rahul Dravid.

And India dominated, despite Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom clawing their team back into contention with two wickets in the second half of the afternoon session. Even then Sachin Tendulkar and Ganguly combined to raise the tourists' score to 260 for three.

Dravid hit his first half-century of the series, from 82 balls, but was prised out by a yorker from Anderson which shaped away slightly in the air.

That halted a 127-run stand for the second wicket and left-armer idebottom followed up to have Karthik fortuitously adjudged caught behind, chasing one angled across him.

New-ball pair Sidebottom and Anderson both beat the bat in the opening couple of overs - Anderson was only an inch or so away from bowling Wasim Jaffer in fact with his second delivery of the day - but it proved a false dawn in a run-heavy first session.

By the close, Sachin Tendulkar (48) and VVS Laxman (20) were both unbeaten to ensure the visitors were firmly in command after the first day.