Close England 336 and 33 for 0 lead India 238 (Tendulkar 90, Sehwag 66, Flintoff 4-50, Hoggard 4-80) by 131 runs
scorecard

The black clouds of Bangalore had their say again today and probably put paid to any hopes England had of squaring the series. Just 14.4 overs either side of tea were possible, and barring a hideous Indian collapse tomorrow, England will go home knowing that they had the better of two Tests, but still lost 1-0.

Even in the 88 balls bowled today, they were comfortably the better side. It took them just 49 deliveries to take the final three Indian wickets - and that included two dropped catches. Then Mark Butcher and Marcus Trescothick knocked up 33 runs in just 43 deliveries before the rain ruined things for the last time.

England's only chance of forcing a result lay in mopping up the tail with Aussie-like efficiency. But Anil Kumble was missed at first slip by Martyn Ball off Matthew Hoggard in the first over of the day, bowled at 2.15pm, and Harbhajan Singh was dropped by Hoggard off Andy Flintoff three overs later after top-edging a loose pull to fine leg.

It didn't matter. The ball after Harbhajan's reprieve, Flintoff had Kumble edging to Trescothick at second slip for 14 (228 for 8), and three overs later Hoggard made up for his boo-boo by snaring Harbhajan, caught off the leading edge for 8 by Nasser Hussain, who dived athletically forward at mid-off (235 for 9).

Michael Vaughan had batted like Ricky Ponting and now fielded like him too, bringing the innings to an end when his direct hit from the covers beat Sarandeep Singh (4) by four feet. That was 238 all out, and England's lead was 98. With 34 overs still to go, they were eyeing an overnight lead of 200-plus.

They started positively as Butcher hit 10 of the 11 runs off Javagal Srinath's first over, including a vicious slash over gully for four and a firm push through mid-off for three. The singles flowed as the openers dropped the ball at their feet, exchanged glances and ran like hell, before Butcher timed Srinath off his hip through square leg for four - the shot of a man on top of his game.

But Harbhajan had time for just one delivery when the umpires decided that the drizzle had become too heavy, and the players ran for the pavilion. The covers came off briefly just before 5pm, but were on again moments later, this time for good.

England must now pray for the skies to hold tomorrow and then score at around five an over to set up a tempting declaration. If they lose 2-0 in pursuit of victory, no-one will hold it against them. But if they manage to draw the series, it will go down as one of the great shocks in recent Test history.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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