Tendulkar and Ganguly give England a battering

India 584-4 v England

At 6.10pm yesterday David Orchard and Ashoka De Silva, the two umpires officiating in this third Test match, got together and offered India's batsmen the light. With the evening gloom descending and the visitors in a position of total control, the majority of the full-house crowd here looked at this as an opportunity to beat the traffic.

England had accepted the invitation to leave the field at Trent Bridge in the last Test. How wrong they were and what fools they were to leave then. Yesterday the play had been one-sided and India were cruising along untroubled in second gear, but following a quick chat between Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar all hell was let loose as the pair left a trail of carnage over this famous old ground that will require some clearing up by England today.

In 50 glorious minutes, which ended when Nasser Hussain's complaints about the light – no doubt for fear that his players were going to be decapitated by low flying missiles – were upheld by the umpires, India left England's bowlers licking wounds that will take some time to heal.

India were on 488 for 3 when England took the third new ball but in the next 11.1 overs before Ganguly was bowled by Alex Tudor, the captain and Tendulkar smashed 96 runs that included five sixes and nine fours Both passed significant landmarks during their mammoth partnership of 249. Tendulkar moved to 185 not out, his highest score against England, and Ganguly completed his ninth Test century. Ashley Giles, who thus far had done a reasonable job in containing these two, received the worst mauling. He went for 23 runs in an over.

The manner in which India had played until then gave no inclination of what lay ahead. While the intention was more positive than on the first day Rahul Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly seemed more concerned with not throwing away their hard-earned advantage than taking England apart.

After two failures during the first Test at Lord's questions were asked about the temperament, form and hunger of Tendulkar. Some pointed to the fact that when India appeared to need him most the little master failed to produce a match-winning performance.

Even though Tendulkar has everything a sportsman could wish for, this is hogwash, and yesterday's century, his 30th in Test cricket, proved that all three of his supposed shortcomings are mythical. His hundred, which took him past Don Bradman and into second place on the all-time list of century makers and four behind his mentor Sunil Gavaskar, was like so many of his, full of crisp, clean clips and cuts as well as powerful drives. It was the equal of Dravid's both in style and value to the side.

If a shot stood out before he decided to go ballistic, it was the one that took him to 50. Initially he looked to leave a shortish ball from Alex Tudor but at the last moment he changed his mind and pulled him in the style of a right-handed Brian Lara. With his left leg bent and in the air the ball raced through mid-wicket for four.

Together he and Dravid put on 150 with relative ease against an England attack already running short of ideas. After a poor day at the office on Thursday, and a 55-minute delay while early morning rain passed through Leeds, Hussain's bowlers were once again given grey, overcast conditions, but yet again they failed to make the most of them.

The indifferent bounce will have encouraged India nearly as much as the turn Ashley Giles' left-arm spin extracted. Bowling slowly the tall Warwickshire spinner turned the ball quite appreciably, so much so that he lured Dravid to come down the wicket, whereupon he was beaten by one that turned sharply and comfortably stumped by Stewart. England's joy would have been tempered by thoughts of what are Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble going to do when he gets his chance.

This misjudgement brought Ganguly to the crease. On the rare occasions when England's bowlers got it right he looked uncomfortable but this did not stop him getting behind the next ball and flaying anything short and wide through the off-side for four.

Whichever way you look at this Test match England are in trouble. For the second day in a row here, Nasser Hussain's side have been thoroughly outplayed, and to get out of the mess they find themselves in will require a supreme effort and a fair amount of fortune.

HEADINGLEY SCOREBOARD

Second day; India won toss

INDIA ­ First Innings

S B Bangar c Stewart b Flintoff 68

298min, 236 balls, 10 fours

V Sehwag c Flintoff b Hoggard 8

30min, 23 balls, 1 four

R S Dravid st Stewart b Giles 148

431min, 307 balls, 23 fours

S R Tendulkar not out 185

426min, 321 balls, 18 fours, 3 sixes

*S C Ganguly b Tudor 128

262min, 167 balls, 14 fours, 3 sixes

V V S Laxman not out 0

1min, 0 balls

Extras (b14, lb13, w5, nb15) 47

Total (for 4, 727min, 173.1 overs) 584

Fall: 1-15 (Sehwag); 2-185 (Bangar); 3-335 (Dravid); 4-584 (Ganguly).

To bat: A B Agarkar, ÝP A Patel, A R Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan.

Bowling: Hoggard 36-12-102-1 (nb4) (10-4-20-1, 6-2-13-0, 2-1-6-0, 7-3-18-0, 5-0-19-1, 2-1-1-0, 4-1-22-0); Caddick 37-5-139-0 (nb6) (6-1-13-0, 3-1-7-0, 4-2-9-0, 3-0-9-0, 7-1-24-0, 2-0-10-0, 4-0-12-0, 3-0-15-0, 4-0-35-0, 1-0-5-0); Tudor 32.1-10-113-1 (nb3) (12-7-15-0, 2-1-2-0, 6-2-23-0, 1-0-9-0, 6-0-33-0, 1-0-4-0, 3-0-16-0, 1.1-0-11-1); Flintoff 27-6-68-1 (nb2, w5) (4-1-9-0, 3-0-14-0, 1-0-2-0, 6-2-9-1, 2-0-5-0, 4-1-13-0, 7-2-16-0); Giles 39-3-134-1 (5-1-8-0, 3-1-2-0, 2-0-17-0, 2-0-7-0, 9-0-29-1, 2-0-7-0, 2-1-2-0, 13-0-39-0, 1-0-23-0); Butcher 1-1-0-0, Vaughan 1-0-1-0 (one spell each).

Progress: Second day (overnight 236-2): rain delayed start until 11.55am. 250: 384 mins, 94.4 overs. Lunch: 294-2 (Dravid 130, Tendulkar 53) 105 overs. 300: 431 mins, 105.4 overs. 350: 472 mins, 118 overs. 400: 545 mins, 132.1 overs. Tea: 421-3 (Tendulkar 113, Ganguly 45) 141 overs. 450: 603 mins, 146.3 overs. New ball taken after 162 overs at 488-3. 500: 690 mins, 166 overs. 550: 713 mins, 170.2 overs. Bad light stopped play 6.57pm.

Bangar 50: 228 mins, 166 balls, 7 fours. Dravid 50: 205 mins, 153 balls, 6 fours; 100: 301 mins, 220 balls, 14 fours. Tendulkar 50: 124 mins, 98 balls, 9 fours; 100: 233 mins, 171 balls, 13 fours; 150: 398 mins, 300 balls, 16 fours. Ganguly 50: 128 mins, 93 balls, 7 fours; 100: 249 mins, 156 balls, 12 fours, 1 six.

ENGLAND: R W T Key, M P Vaughan, M A Butcher, *N Hussain, J P Crawley, ÝA J Stewart, A Flintoff, A J Tudor, A F Giles, A R Caddick, M J Hoggard.

Umpires: E A R de Silva and D L Orchard.

TV replay umpire: P Willey.

Match referee: C H Lloyd.