BBC SPORT | ENGLAND | Hoggard lifts England hopes

Third Test, Bangalore, day three (stumps): India (218-7) trail England (336) by 118 runs.

Matthew Hoggard led the charge with three wickets on the third day in Bangalore to leave India 218 for seven - still 118 runs in arrears - at stumps.

But England's hopes of a series-tying victory were dealt a blow when rain began during the tea break, preventing play in the evening session.

Bad weather had delayed the start of the day and interrupted an afternoon which swung in India's favour for a brief half hour.

The wickets in the morning of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly put India on the back foot.

And Hoggard ended a cavalier innings of 66 off 86 balls by Virender Sehwag with the second new ball.

That left tailenders Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh at the crease when the rain began.

But the key wicket for England was that of Sachin Tendulkar for 90, stumped for the first time in his Test career to lend credence to England's controversial bowling tactics.

First stumping

Spinner Ashley Giles bowled unchanged through the morning, over the wicket, gaining eight maidens in 11 overs and never looking like striking.

Tendulkar finally took exception after lunch, stepping back outside leg-stump to drive down the ground, and gaining 12 runs from a single over.

Tendulkar berates himself following his stumping
Tendulkar was stumped for the first time in Tests
But in doing so again he was beaten by extra bounce and was well out of his ground when wicketkeeper James Foster whipped off the stumps.

Tendulkar's innings was not perfect, as he played and missed at several seaming deliveries from an in-form Hoggard, but he did enough to pass 1,000 runs this calendar year.

His rush of blood was perhaps inspired by the arrival at the crease of Sehwag, who survived two early edges that dropped in front of the slips to crash 31 runs in a partnership of 52.

Breakthrough

Andrew Flintoff had continued his leg-side line to Tendulkar during the first part of the morning.

But it was Hoggard, replacing Flintoff at the Pavilion End, who dealt with Dravid and captain Ganguly.

After crawling through a total of 74 minutes at the crease - 40 on the third day - to make just three runs, Dravid fell in Hoggard's first over of the morning.

Ganguly watches Butcher take the catch at second slip
Ganguly watches Butcher dismiss him for a duck
The Yorkshire seamer gained slight movement off the seam to see the Indian vice-captain gain a slight outside edge to Foster.

A woefully out-of-form Ganguly followed in Hoggard's next over, displaying a complete lack of footwork as he got a thick edge to Mark Butcher at second slip.

Sehwag took the attack to the tourists, stepping back often outside leg-stump to crash a half century from 72 balls, but playing and missing regularly.

When he audaciously reverse-swept Ashley Giles for four, England skipper Nasser Hussain opted to take the new ball with India 206 for six.

And Hoggard claimed his third wicket when the youngster edged another classical seamer's delivery behind.

India: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Deep Dasgupta (wkt), Shiv Sunder Das, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Sarandeep Singh.

England: Nasser Hussain (capt), Mark Butcher, Marcus Trescothick, Mark Ramprakash, Andrew Flintoff, Michael Vaughan, Craig White, James Foster (wkt), Ashley Giles, Richard Dawson, Matthew Hoggard.

Umpires: Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka) and A.V.Jayaprakash (India). Third umpire: Francis Gomes (India).

ICC match referee: Denis Lindsay (South Africa).


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