CALCUTTA, Feb Irorn Mike* Gain' ng and a stubbo m rearguard ac tton by ninth wakct pair lan Salisbury and Paul Tay tor postponed India s Inevitable victory tn the first cricket Test against England at the Eden Gardens here

Defeat with a day to spare which had looked to be England's fate at the start of the fourth day has now been delayed until the fifth and final day with India, set a modest target of 79 to go one up in the three-match series, need Ing to return tomorrow morning to complete the formalities by knocking oft the remaining 43 runs. That would put the seal on a truly deserv ing win. their first at the Eden Gardens since 1074-75 when the West Indies under Cltve Lloyd lost to Mansur All Khan's team by 85 runs.

England's last defeat at the hands of India was at Headingley when Kapil Dev's boys beat them by a massive 279-run margin in 1986

The return of Test cricket to Calcutta, which has proved to be such a favourable venue for Azharuddtn. after a gap of five years has also given a much-needed boost not only to the Indian morale but also to the sagging fortunes of Azharuddtn as India s captain. This Is his 18th Test and touch wood It s going to be his only second win after seven defeats and nine draws. Not since Chandigarh against Shri Lanka In 1990 has Azharuddin had so much cause to savour and celebrate

Indeed this match will go down as Azhar s match. His magnificent 182 In India's otherwise not-so-lmpresslve total of 371 in the first innings will not only have etched itself indelibly in the minds of all those who were previleged to see it. it will have had a profound impact on Azhar's persona and his prospects with the Indian team in the immediate future. Very rarely has a captain had to dig so deep Into his reserve of talent and character to save his reputation and his job And Azhar did just that, with such elan

There was none of the devil the pundits had predicted tn the wicket today, or yesterday for that matter Batting looked a much easier and safer task compared to the threat posed by the trio of Indian spinners in the afternoon of the second day. The Englishmen possibly gave away the Initiative then by allowing themselves to be reduced to a pathetic 88 for five From then everything followed — quite unlike cricket, though — in logical progression Their lower order batsmen, no matter how hard they tried, found It beyond their limited abilities to ward oft the immediate danger of a follow-on.

Yet, despite the wicket eas ing oft and India's youngish spinners Raju. Kumble and Chauhan — the latter looking to be the best on view — tired or tiring, the English batting once again exposed Its lack of skill against sustained spin. Just to highlight the sense of fear In the English camp, not one of their batsmen managed " give a catch to any of the Indian outfielders. Without saying that holing out In the outfield is an honourable way of dismissal it must be underlined that the England batsmen were so preoccupied with survival that none of them ventured — perhaps barring the exception of Chris Lewis and of course the more accomplished Gatting — to step out of his crease and play positive strokes in front of the wicket. Instead Gooch's men displayed a fatal fascination for fiatfooted fiddling and paid the consequent penalty. Their ultra-defensive approach only helped Azhar to put more pressure with a menacing ring of close-in fielders breathing almost down their necks for most of the time. If only India had had an Eknath Solkar the match might have 'ended already. the young Amre. Tendulkar and Kamble proving not quite alert or agile to the needs of those demanding, specialised positions near the bat. At least half a dozen pops from the tentative defensive prods or pushes by the Englishmen were grassed in the two innings and another six or seven half chances, the type one expects at his level of the game, went abegglng. The missed lollies were more often than not at the expense of debutant off-spinner Rajesh Chauhan, who could have announced his arrival In the Test arena in more emphatic manner.

Gatting and Smith, not out on 48 and two overnight, had taken the score along to 145 from 128 for two before Smith ended his hour-long stay at the crease by edging Chauhan to More behind the stumps after making eight.

On the other hand Gatting promptly marched to his first fitly in nine Tests — »h><< that famous (or infamous) fracas with Shakoor Rana in Falsa labad— with a crisply timed boundary in the opening over of the morning. He looked in fine fettle and convinced evciyonc that if England were to escape from their predicament here it would have to be their former captain who would need to do the most by producing a big knock. Such a prospect looked quite within the realms of possibility until, on 81 and the board showing 192 for three. Gattlng attempted his famous sweep once too often, managing in only under edging Chauhan's delivery frofti outside the off stump on to his wicket. Ga Hing is usually a good sweeper, perhaps eyen better than Gooch whoVian employ this particular stroke to great profit. But while Gooch often gets away by sweeping balls outside his off stump because of his greater reach Gattlng didn't op this occasion. He lasted 191 minutes.

On the same total of 192 Graeme Hick, despite all the prayers of English supporters here and back home fell, leg before to Venkat Raju, giving the left-arm spinner his first of three wickets today.

Hick. Joining Gatling after Smith's fall, had looked to have started with much more confidence after his first innings failure. He played some handsome shots in front of the wicket and gave Indications that he was out to prove a point at last. He had hit three sweet boundaries in his first 19 runs. His next scoring shot, a glorious soaring six over long off was. alas, to be his last. On 25. perhaps forced to adopt a defensive frame of mina following Gatttng's departure; the naturalised England player from Zimbabwe didn't quite stretch far enough as he pushed forward and the ball from Raju wrapped him halfway up his front pad plumb in front.

Once again the outcome of the game became an almost foregone conclusion.

Yet once again, it was a case of defa uu with first Lewis and Fairbrother, then Fairbrother and Salisbury and again Salisbury and Paul Taylor doing their best to salvage Eng land's sinking before hopes of saving the match.

Lewis, in a manner remi niscent of the first innings, stepped out on a couple of occasions to give the ball a good whack through the V but was again found wanting in skills against the spinners, giving Amre at forward short leg an easy catch off Raju. Before that Lewis had brought up the 200 of the innings with a lofted on-drive off Raju and thanks to him again the ignominy of an innings defeat was avoided in the second over after lunch when he smote the same bowler overthe mi^wtekel fence

Paul'Jarvis Joined Fairbr other and helped add 18 runs to the total, he himself making six, before Raju had him lbw to make it 234 for seven.

Twenty runs later Fair-brother left, failing yet again to answer England's call when he gave substitute WB Raman, fielding for Tendulkar, an easy catch at silly pom) off Kumble.

Salisbury, batting on 12, was Joined by debutant medium-pacer Paul Taylor and the two, as in the first Innings, batted sensibly and with a degree of confidence to add 32 priceless runs for the nlnth-wickct to prolong India's wait. The pair, who featured in a fine but in the end fruitless 3O-run stand yesterday, today did almost as much for England, consuming 85 minutes and 24.2 overs — a resistance that forced Azharuddin to relieve his tired spinners with his two medium-pacers Kapil ;md Manoj Prabhakar

Prabhakar, who came on at the far end in the 130th over of the innings, took the new ball after 132.2 overs with England on 285 for eight. It needed another five overs before the breakthrough was made.

Kapil Dev. playing in his 121st Test, eventually got among the wickets by inducing Salisbury to chase an away swinger into More's gloves after making 26 In 134 minutes off 109 baMs with four hits to the fence. Next ball. Kapil took his 414th Test wicket — and his 13th in seven Tests — by trapping last man Devon Malcolm lbw for nought to restrict England's lead to 78 runs at 286 all out.

Of the 137.2 overs bowled in the England second innings which lasted 459 minutes, the three spinners bowled all but the 17.2 overs sent down by Kapil and Prabhakar together Although Raju and Kumble dangerman Gattlng and the dangerous Robin Smith. Kapil picked two for 12 off his 8.2 overs while Prabhakar’s nine overs cost 26 runs.

So on the final day Tuesday Sidhu, batting on 20 and Prabhakar on 12. will come to the crease determined to complete the kill as soon as possible. Some wickets may, of course fall, but that shouldn't prevent India froin achieving their most deserving victory. Yet. if cricket should once again play its cruel tricks, then heaven knows when another opportunity will knock at India's doors.

And as they pack their bags out of Calcutta, Gooch and his men will have the chance to moot if left-arm spinner Phil Tufnell — or the veteran John Emburey — might not have been a better inclusion tn place of anyone of their four rather pedestrian mediumpacers.