By Mark Mitchener

First Test, Lord's, day four (close):
England 298 & 282 v India 201 & 137-3

Pietersen reached his ninth Test century off 148 balls

India reached 137-3 after day four of the first Test at Lord's, chasing a target of 380 to beat England.

Kevin Pietersen smashed 134 - his ninth Test century - as England were bowled out for 282 before tea, while left-arm seamer RP Singh took 5-59 for India.

England have claimed the prize wickets of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, who were trapped lbw by Chris Tremlett and Monty Panesar respectively.

But Dinesh Karthik (56) and Sourav Ganguly (36) were unbeaten at stumps.

Interview: England's Kevin Pietersen

An absorbing fourth day began with England on 77-2, 174 runs ahead, and looking to put the match out of India's reach.

606: DEBATE Your thoughts on the fourth day

But Michael Vaughan and Pietersen were able to take few liberties early on with only 10 runs coming from the first six overs from Sree Santh and Zaheer Khan.

The introduction of Singh soon brought success as Vaughan played on to a ball which swung in late.

Paul Collingwood escaped a pair by slicing square for four but it was his only scoring stroke as he was surprised by a well-directed short ball from Singh and VVS Laxman took an easy catch at second slip.

Ian Bell made an impressive start to his innings by flicking Santh down to fine leg for four and then pulling Singh emphatically through the leg-side for another.

He tried to repeat the stroke next ball, but dragged the ball into his stumps and departed for nine as Singh enjoyed an impressive spell of 3-30 from seven overs.

Pietersen and Matt Prior survived until lunch and then pressed on after the interval, the keeper playing the supporting role and allowing Pietersen to dominate as they raced to a century stand in just 128 balls.

RP Singh took five wickets and will go on the Lord's honours board

Pietersen reserved particular punishment for veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble, taking 14 off one over with a four through the covers, a lofted six over the bowler's head to take him to 99, and a flicked four through midwicket to bring up his century - off 148 balls - with obvious delight.

Even a streaky edge off Santh flew past the slips for four - and Prior was deprived of the strike for a four-over spell as his partner continued not only to farm the Indian bowling, but to milk it as well.

Prior eventually fell for 42, after putting on 119 for the sixth wicket, when he pushed forward and was caught behind by Mahendra Dhoni off Zaheer.

Tremlett played forward to his first ball but it ricocheted off his ankle onto the stumps to earn the tall Hampshire seamer membership of the Primary Club - while matching Graham Gooch, who also bagged a pair on his Test debut.

Ryan Sidebottom kept out the hat-trick ball, a fast yorker from Zaheer (4-79), and was then dropped by Dravid at slip - but the Indian captain made no mistake the following over when Kumble again found the wild-haired left-hander's edge.

Having batted for nearly five hours, Pietersen eventually departed for 134 when he chopped a ball by Singh onto his stumps, and Singh claimed his fifth scalp of the innings when Panesar was lbw.

When India began their second innings after tea, Karthik and Wasim Jaffer batted carefully but purposefully.

Karthik in particular looked in control as he cover-drove Sidebottom handsomely for four.

But as Vaughan shuffled his three seam bowlers, it was Anderson - the five-wicket hero from the first innings - who made the breakthrough as he induced Jaffer to swipe to midwicket where Pietersen took the catch.

Panesar was thrilled to claim Tendulkar's wicket once again

That brought in Dravid, who immediately got off the mark by carving Anderson for four through the covers and stroked another boundary in the same over.

However, the Indian captain - dubbed "The Wall" - crumbled three overs later when Tremlett made up for his earlier duck by trapping him lbw for nine, although replays appeared to show the ball hit him just outside the line of off-stump.

That energised the crowd, who were further excited by the introduction of Panesar into the attack for the next over for a key duel against Tendulkar, who showed his class with a superbly timed four through the covers off the left-arm spinner.

But Panesar's persistence paid off as he once more had Tendulkar lbw for 16 - echoing his very first Test scalp in March 2006 - and the spinner celebrated claiming the prize wicket with even more gusto than his usual exuberance.

It left the tourists 84-3 as Sourav Ganguly joined Karthik, and the latter steered India into three figures with a lift over the slips for four, while left-hander Ganguly also enjoyed a duel as Panesar bowled into the rough outside his off-stump.

But the watchful pair ensured there were no more scares for India before the close, adding an unbeaten 53 for the fourth wicket.

However, with rain forecast, the weather may yet have as big a part to play on Monday as it did on the second and third days.