NOTTINGHAM (England), July 29: Sachin Tendulkar missed out on a hundred but he helped bat India into a commanding position against England on the third day of the second Test at Trent Bridge here on Sunday.

Tendulkar's 91 was one of five half-centuries made by India's top six in a total of 481 that gave them a first innings lead of 283.

At stumps England, in their second innings, were 43 without loss — still needing a further 240 runs just to make India bat again with two days left.

Andrew Strauss (21 not out) and Alastair Cook (17 not out) survived a potentially tricky 16 overs to the close.

India, after tea, saw V.V.S. Laxman (54) follow Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly (79), Dinesh Karthik (77) and Wasim Jaffer (62) in making a fifty.

Chris Tremlett, who led England's pace attack with a commendable three for 80 in 40 overs, finally ended Laxman's innings when the batsman edged to wicket-keeper Matt Prior on 54.

Zaheer Khan, off the mark with a streaky four, then took exception to a comment made to him by one of England's close fielders.

The umpires moved in to calm the situation and spoke to Strauss, captaining England with Michael Vaughan off the field.

India's tail, a brisk 30 from Anil Kumble apart, fell cheaply with left-arm spinner Monty Panesar ending the innings when last man Shanthakuraman Sreesanth was lbw for two to finish with figures of four for 101 in 33.5 overs.

Left-arm quick Ryan Sidebottom, despite the blue skies overhead, swung the ball consistently and was unlucky to take just the one wicket.

His performance suggested India's left-arm pace bowlers, who'd starred as England were bowled out for a lowly first innings 198, albeit in conditions aiding swing bowling, would continue to pose problems.

Tendulkar, who during his innings had become only the third batsman in history to score 11,000 Test runs, went to within nine of extending his world record of Test hundreds to 38 when, in the first over after lunch, he uppercut Paul Collingwood for four.But medium-pacer Collingwood had Tendulkar lbw padding up outside off-stump to his sixth ball which looked as if it might miss the stumps.

Australia's Simon Taufel, the three-time ICC Umpire of the Year, pondered his decision before raising the finger and a disbelieving Tendulkar laid himself open to a dissent charge by lingering in his crease for several seconds before walking off.

He batted for more than four hours, facing 197 balls with a dozen boundaries and put on 96 in 31 overs with Ganguly, who also exited when eyeing a hundred.

Shaping to leg-glance James Anderson, the left-hander was caught by a diving Prior off what appeared a thin deflection at best.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND (1st Innings) 198 (Zaheer Khan 4-59).

INDIA (1st Innings, overnight 254-3):

K.D. Karthik c Cook b Panesar 77

Wasim Jaffer c Prior b Tremlett 62

R. Dravid c Bell b Panesar 37

S.R. Tendulkar lbw b Collingwood 91

S.C. Ganguly c Prior b Anderson 79

V.V.S. Laxman c Prior b Tremlett 54

M.S. Dhoni c Prior b Sidebottom 5

A. Kumble c Prior b Tremlett 30

Zaheer Khan not out 10

R.P. Singh lbw b Panesar 0

S. Sreesanth lbw b Panesar 2

EXTRAS (B-16, LB-16, W-1, NB-1) 34

TOTAL (all out, 158.5 overs) 481

FALL OF WKTS: 1-147, 2-149, 3-246, 4-342, 5-409, 6-414, 7-464, 8-473, 9-474.

BOWLING: Sidebottom 36-11-75-1 (1w); Anderson 33-4-134-1; Tremlett 40-13-80-3 (1nb); Collingwood 16-3-59-1; Panesar 33.5-8-101-4.

ENGLAND (2nd Innings):

A.J. Strauss not out 21

A.N. Cook not out 17

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-1, W-1, NB-1) 5

TOTAL (for no wkt, 16 overs) 43

BOWLING (to-date): Zaheer Khan 5-2-14-0; Sreesanth 3-0-10-0 (1nb, 1w); R.P. Singh 4-3-4-0; Kumble 3-0-10-0; Ganguly 1-0-2-0.—AFP