December 6, 2001	Thursday	Ramazan 20, 1422

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MOHALI (India), Dec 5: A four wicket haul for debutant off-spinner Richard Dawson came too late for England on Wednesday as India plundered 469 to take a 231-run first innings lead on the third day of the first Test.

Although Sachin Tendulkar (88) and Rahul Dravid (86) missed centuries the home side, boosted by wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta’s maiden Test hundred Tuesday, grabbed the initiative.

In reply England were 34 for no loss at the close, still 197 behind, with openers Marcus Trescothick (16 not out) and Mark Butcher (11 not out) managing to survive 20 overs in front of a festive audience of over 20,000.

India, 262 for three overnight, began the day aggressively when Tendulkar hooked paceman James Ormond to the square-leg fence before driving fast bowler Matthew Hoggard to the long-on boundary.

Hoggard beat the batsmen on a few occasions in friendly morning conditions but failed to induce an edge.

Tendulkar raised his 50 in 77 balls when he tried to leave a delivery outside the off-stump but the ball clipped his bat and beat wicketkeeper James Foster to race away for four.

Dravid, 78 overnight, was content with picking up singles and giving Tendulkar the strike.

He did though cut Ormond to the cover fence for four and, just when a 10th Test hundred looked near, was trapped lbw by an Ormond delivery that straightened after pitching on off-stump. He had faced 206 balls and struck 10 fours.

Tendulkar drove Hoggard for three fours in five balls to bring up India’s 300 in the 111th over.

Left-hander Ganguly cut Ormond to point and then drove him to the cover fence later in the same over before hitting Craig White backward of square on the off-side for four.

Tendulkar square-cut Dawson for four to raise the 50 partnership for the fifth wicket and Ganguly pulled paceman Andrew Flintoff for consecutive boundaries as India scored 91 in the first session.

Tendulkar perished soon after lunch, 12 short of a potential 27th Test hundred, getting an edge while fishing outside the off-stump to Hoggard to give Foster a simple catch. He had hit 13 fours in the 144-ball knock.

Ganguly was granted a life on 41 when he was beaten in the air while giving Dawson the charge but Foster failed to collect the ball and missed a simple stumping chance.

The skipper fell soon after for 47, cutting a short-pitched delivery straight to Graham Thorpe at point.

Dawson grabbed three wickets after tea to reduce India to from 430 for six to 449 for nine and give England a glimmer of hope.

He had Vangipurappu Laxman (28) cut a widish ball straight to captain Nasser Hussain at gully before trapping Harbhajan Singh lbw for one with a ball that pitched on middle stump and rapped him on the back leg.

Debutant all-rounder Sanjay Bangar, playing with a runner due to a pulled hamstring, struck some lusty blows, hitting Dawson for four of his six fours.

But Dawson hit back, inducing him to miscue an attempted pull and catching him off his own bowling for 36. He finished with four for 134, suffering from indifferent England fielding and a bad missed stumping chance by Foster.

Debutant Iqbal Siddiqui struck a flashy 24 off 28 balls, which included a six over long-on off Dawson, before the innings closed when he was bowled playing on to a delivery from Hoggard, who finished with three for 98.