England's success in weather vain

The Bangalore weather succeeded where Sachin Tendulkar and Virendar Schewag had earlier failed in halting England's progress towards levelling the series. With India's tail tantalisingly exposed, the rain frustratingly kept England's attack from finishing it off and completing an otherwise excellent third day.

The second session was much interrupted, but the disruptions seemed only to trouble the home side as England further took control. Ashley Giles and Matthew Hoggard, both bowling brilliantly, claimed the crucial wickets of Tendulkar and Sehwag respectively to leave India floundering on 218 for seven at tea, still 118 runs adrift of England's first innings total of 336.

But the rain that returned during the tea interval never subsided and, with play consequently abandoned for the day, time is now beginning to run out for England to win this match and draw level.

Hoggard claimed his third wicket of the day five minutes before tea, removing Sehwag for 66 with a fizzing delivery that caught the outside edge on its way into James Foster's increasingly safe hands.

Hoggard's pace was nicely offset by Giles's left-arm spin. And today Giles continued his bitter battle with Tendulkar who made no secret of his objection to the bowler's consistent leg-stump line.

Giles and his captain Nasser Hussain had set a trap for the Little Master with the tactic of containment, and it was one that an increasingly exasperated Tendulkar could not avoid walking into, just 10 runs short of his 28th Test century.

The Warwickshire spinner gained his reward for frustrating Tendulkar into charging down the wicket for a big hit on the onside. He played, he missed and Foster removed the bails in a flash. It was the first time in his Test career that Tendulkar had been out stumped. He scored 90 runs off 198 balls with 13 fours.

At lunch, Giles had bowling figures of 27-16-34-0, of which 11 overs and eight maidens came in the morning session. Though those figures were spoiled after lunch as first Tendulkar, then Sehwag decided to attack, England will take comfort - if not crowd credit - from their astute game plan. Tendulkar put on 52 runs off 105 balls with Sehwag for the sixth wicket, but though they were the only batsmen to amass many runs, their impatience borught their downfall.

Earlier in the morning, paceman Matthew Hoggard grabbed two quick wickets as India, 99 for three overnight, slumped to 121 for five.

Rahul Dravid, known as 'the wall' because of his defensive approach, appears now to have hit a brick one with the bat. He was dismissed for a 61-ball three - a lengthy extension to a painfully long run which has delivered just 122 runs in 10 hours and 21 minutes at the crease. His last 36 runs have taken over five hours to accumulate.

Captain Sourav Ganguly did not stick around so long, going for a three-ball duck in Hoggard's next over. He guided a delivery angled across him to Mark Butcher, who held a neat catch at second slip.

Sadly for England, the hard work might all be in vain.