Engalnd's Monty Panesar (right) looks up as the Indian keeper Mahendra Dhoni (left) and teammates appeal for lbw off the bowling of Anil Kumble on the fourth day's play of the third cricket Test at the Oval in London yesterday. Panesar was given out. - AP

LONDON (Reuters)

England survived a tricky spell against India yesterday as they began pursuit of a record 500 to win the third Testand draw the series.

Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss guided the home side to 56 without loss and England now need to bat briskly through the final day if they are to have any chance of pulling off an unlikely victory. India, who only need a draw to claim their first Test series victory in England for 21 years, declared their second innings on 180 for six after skipper Rahul Dravid chose not to enforce the follow-on on day four.

Cook was on 27 and Strauss, who has not scored a Test century since last August, was 23 not out.

The openers faced 20 overs before the close as they sought to make some impression on the huge target. They require another 444 runs but more likely face the prospect of losing their first home Test series since 2001.

Dravid Criticised

Pundits criticised Dravid for not making England follow on and pushing for a 2-0 series win but the Indian skipper wanted to snub out any chance England had of victory by using up more time and increasing the target.

Dravid himself inflicted slow torture on England when he scored 12 runs in 140 minutes for the slowest dozen runs scored in Test cricket in terms of minutes taken, according to statisticians. He appeared inhibited by the loss of three early wickets which left India reeling on 11 for three. Opener Wasim Jaffer was adjudged lbw for a duck by James Anderson in yet another dubious decision by umpire Ian Howell.

Dinesh Karthik was caught at second slip off Chris Tremlett for eight and then master batsman Sachin Tendulkar scored one before he played on to Anderson, who had figures of two for naught from his first four overs. Saurav Ganguly counter-attacked either side of lunch for 57 from 68 balls until he edged Paul Collingwood to slip and gave Strauss his 50th Test catch.

England are not giving up on chasing down the record 500 for victory, pace bowler James Anderson said.

"We are pretty pleased as it was a tricky 20 overs for us (to face)," Anderson told reporters. "Tomorrow we will bat for as long as we can. The first goal is to save the game."

Hinting at a possible dash for the record later in the day, he added: "If we can keep wickets in hand then we will see where we are."

Although India are still in command of the game, they refused to get carried away.

"In the past we have scored over 400 runs on this ground and almost won (in 1979) and the wicket is playing beautifully," India team manager Chandu Borde said.

"It's not turning or helping the spinners as much as we expected and our bowlers needed a rest," he added, in defence of not making England follow on.

"The result all depends on the wicket here but we are quite confident of performing well. We are hoping the wicket on the last day will give us more assistance to put England under pressure."

FINAL WICKET

Anil Kumble claimed the final wicket of England's first innings at the start of the day to give him his 564th Test victim and take him ahead of Glenn McGrath in the Test wicket tally behind only Muttiah Muralitharan (700) and the retired Shane Warne (708).