Bangar defied England's bowlers

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly elected to bat after winning the toss, with spin duo Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble in the side.

England recalled Andrew Caddick, Alex Tudor and Ashley Giles to their attack.

But it was Matthew Hoggard who made the early breakthrough as Sehwag chased an outswinger and edged to Andrew Flintoff at second slip.

But Bangar, who replaced opener Wasim Jaffer in the XI, and Dravid batted with caution, skill and a little luck to deny England a second wicket until well into the final session.

Dravid could have been run-out twice, and on the first occasion the ball shaved the stumps with the batsman well short of his ground, but the bails stayed fast.

Flintoff also dropped a regulation slip catch as Bangar edged Alex Tudor on 53, but both batsmen battled well and did not miss a single scoring opportunity.

Hoggard was left feeling frustrated

Bangar had scored 68, including 10 fours, when he gloved a Flintoff bouncer down the leg-side where wicketkeeper Alec Stewart took a tumbling catch.

But Dravid pulled out a succession of brilliant shots, none more so stylish than a punched drive through the covers off a lifting Tudor delivery with both feet off the ground.

He reached his 12th Test ton and second in successive matches off 220 balls, including 14 boundaries.

England took the new ball soon after Bangar's dismissal but failed to make any impact as Dravid reached the close unbeaten on 110 and Sachin Tendulkar 18 not out.

England: RWT Key, MP Vaughan, MA Butcher, N Hussain, JP Crawley, AJ Stewart, A Flintoff, AJ Tudor, AF Giles, AR Caddick, MJ Hoggard.

India: SC Ganguly (capt), V Sehwag, RS Dravid, S Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, AB Agarkar, PA Patel (wkt), Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, S Bangar, A Kumble.

Umpires: DL Orchard (SA) & A de Silva (SL) Third Umpire: P Willey Match referee: CH Lloyd (WI).