India fight back despite KP ton

India claimed two wickets late in the day to seize the initiative after Kevin Pietersen led a spirited England fightback.

England's hopes of pushing for an unlikely victory in the final Test stalled with the loss of two wickets in 12 balls just before stumps on day three.
The tourists had fought back after slumping to one for two, captain Pietersen forging a 149-run fifth-wicket stand with Andrew Flintoff to lead his team to 280 for four in reply to India's 453.
But with just minutes remaining before the umpires called a halt to the day in fading light, England lost both batsmen and slumped to 282 for six at the close, still trailing by 171 runs.

Pietersen had hit his 15th Test century and become the third fastest England player to reach 4,000 Test runs on 105, beaten only by Herbert Sutcliffe and Len Hutton.
He hit 17 fours and a six during his brilliant 144 and transformed England's fortunes with his aggression, only for India to fight back in the closing overs.
Left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan had undermined England's reply with the third ball of the innings when he won an lbw appeal against Andrew Strauss.
England slipped into further trouble in the next over with seamer Ishant Sharma continuing Ian Bell's struggles by removing his middle stump with his first delivery.
India captain MS Dhoni used Pietersen's arrival at the crease to embark on psychological tactics to try to unsettle his rival.
Instead of continuing with Zaheer following his successful first over, Dhoni turned to the occasional left-arm spin of Yuvraj Singh, who has waged a running battle with Pietersen through the series.
It was a tactic which was almost inspired with Pietersen nearly bowled off an inside edge from the first delivery, while he almost picked out extra cover with a drive off the final ball of the over.
Yuvraj was taken off after one over and it took the return of Zaheer midway through the afternoon session to make the next breakthrough, an inswinging yorker accounting for Alastair Cook lbw for 50 - his 20th innings without a century.
England regained momentum with Freddie and KP
But with Flintoff showing aggression from the start of his innings, England quickly regained the momentum and added 154 runs in the afternoon session.
It prompted India to go on the defensive and bowl way outside off-stump for most of the final session, and it paid off in the closing minutes when Harbhajan won an lbw appeal against Pietersen.
England chose to use nightwatchman James Anderson rather than send out Matt Prior but it backfired when the Lancashire seamer took a single in what became the final over of the day to expose Flintoff, who gave a bat-pad catch to short leg off leg-spinner Amit Mishra.

International Cricket, India keen to maintain momentum

India will be looking to continue their domination of England when the two teams clash for the third ODI in Kanpur on Thursday.

England have their tail tucked between legs after the twin mauling in Rajkot and Indore and will have to quickly find a way to stop India's in-form batsmen from launching another assault at the Green Park.
With pitch curator Shiv Kumar predicting a bowlers' bloodbath tomorrow, England pacers would have their task cut out when they mark their run-up against India's awe-inspiring batting order and a defeat here would leave them with the improbable task of winning the remaining four matches to win the series.
It was not merely the margin of defeat but the manner of it that exposed England's lack of resources in all three departments and Pietersen and party are simply clueless how to silence Yuvraj Singh's booming blade.
Eight years in the business and still not a certainty in the Test squad, Yuvraj unleashed his pent-up frustration with some power-hitting and the English bowlers can consider themselves simply unlucky to find themselves in his line of fire.
In two matches, Yuvraj proved he could be swashbuckling and sublime as well. His 78-ball 138 in Rajkot was pure aggression but the ton in Indore, on a two-paced track, would rank even higher because of its influence on the outcome of the match.
Spread-eagled by Yuvraj's blazing blade, Stuart Broad and his bowling colleagues can only hope for the law of average to catch up with the England bugbear tomorrow. So far, India has kept things simple, raise a mountain of runs and bury England under it. English bowlers bled 679 runs in just two matches -- 372 of it in fours and sixes -- failing to bowl out the hosts even once.
Not that Yuvraj alone milked the English attack dry. Gautam Gambhir's back-to-back fifties got overshadowed by Yuvraj's successive tons but the pint-sized powerhouse has been in terrific form of late and he does not look in a mood to relax.
Along with Yuvraj, Gambhir raised those 134 runs that steadied India's rocking boat in Indore after England had reduced the hosts to 29 for three to give themselves the best chance of the series so far.
And if Virender Sehwag has his way, life would be difficult for the English bowlers, who simply lack the sting of firepower to reign him in.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has long ago shed the reckless reveller's tag and is more of the crisis man these days and having a long-hitter like Yousuf Pathan only eases the pressure on the India skipper.
That Pathan can use the long handle with lethal effect was on ample display in the Indian Premier League and having been at the receiving end of his pyrotechnics in Indore, the visitors would be at their wit's end, wondering how to straitjacket the towering India.
In the bowling department too, India's embarrassment of riches contrasts England's thin resource, both in the spin and pace segments.
For India, Zaheer Khan has been both probing and poaching, while Munaf Patel has been difficult to score off. R P Singh did go for a few runs but India's spin attack, especially the part-timers, has more than compensated for that. Interestingly, Harbhajan Singh had a very limited role in the series so far while the part-timers made merry. In fact in Indore, Yuvraj, Sehwag and Pathan shared as many as eight wickets among them.
Overall, the series so far has been a lop-sided affair with India treating England with utter disdain and though Pietersen and his teammates would be hoping to be third time lucky, they would have to conjure an extraordinary show tomorrow to halt the Team India juggernaut.
Teams (From): India: MS Dhoni (C), Virender Sehwag (V-C), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, R P Singh and Murali Vijay.
England: Kevin Pietersen (C), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison, Samit Patel, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright and Tim Ambrose.
Umpires: Amish Saheba, Russell Tiffin Third Umpire: Suresh Shastri Match Referee: Roshan Mahanama Hours of Play: 9 am to 12.30 pm, 1.15 pm to 4.45 pm.