But a brilliant 72 off 48 balls, glittered with three huge hits, by Owais Shah and his partnership with Andrew Flintoff, who eventually scored 41 off 30 balls, gave England hope.

Zaheer Khan and Ishant, though, struck in consecutive overs, getting rid of Shah and Flintoff, and with them went the visitors’ chances of keeping the series alive. The rest of the English batsmen tried their best to get on with the scoring, but found the continuously surmounting asking rate too much to contend with. The last ball of the match, bowled by Munaf Patel, saw Dhoni employing a Test match field with four slips and a gully, and in a way summarised the way the series has gone.

Unsettled Tendulkar

Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar, who replaced Rohit Sharma in the team and partnered Sehwag at the top, never really looked settled at the crease, and was bowled through the gate by young Stuart Broad for an ungainly 11.

Flintoff continued to be England’s most impressive bowler on tour. Pietersen has surprisingly not used the option of opening with the big Lancastrian in the series so far, and preferred to continue with Anderson, who has conceded 158 runs in his 25 overs at 6.32 without picking up a wicket.

Sehwag reached his third fifty of the series, with a top-edged hook off Broad, and celebrated it by clearing the square-leg fence off the next ball. But, unfortunately for the large, noisy crowd gathered at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and maybe to the relief of Pietersen, the drizzle returned, with India 106-1 after 17 overs.

... contd.