but was dismissed soon after making the milestone. India then injected some life into the game by making a sudden charge at the target, despite the fact they still needed 170 runs to win. Irfan Pathan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni were promoted up the order to accelerate the scoring, and England had to quickly adopt to a one-day scenario to protect boundaries and try and vary the bowling. Both these batsmen fell after cameos, and Sachin Tendulkar, who had also played some shots, was then trusted with seeing out the remaining overs. Although India scored 129 in 22 overs, they were still 108 runs short of the target, and eventually an offer for bad light was made with the score on 260/6. Matthew Hoggard was awarded man of the match for his first innings effort of 6/57. England overall were pleased to hold a strong Indian team to a draw despite several of their key players missing, and went into the second test with renewed confidence. 2nd Test 3rd Test Following their second test defeat, England suffered a further injury blow when Alastair Cook developed an upset stomach on the morning of the match. Owais Shah made his debut for the tourists, and Shaun Udal was also called into the side to replace Liam Plunkett. England’s chances of success in this match were perceived to be low, but they were immediately boosted by Rahul Dravid’s curious decision to ask England to bat on winning the toss. It was believed that this decision was based on the perceived weakness of England’s spin attack, who would not be able to exploit conditions on the final day of the match. Andrew Strauss scored 128 to end a run of low scores on the sub continent, and the debutant Owais Shah compiled a good half century before retiring hurt at the tea interval with cramps. England closed day 1 on 272/3 – a promising position. On day 2, England continued to accumulate runs, but the Indian attack found more consistency than they were able to the previous day. Sri Sreesanth took 4 wickets and triggered a mini collapse, and Munaf Patel also bowled well. Owais Shah returned to continue his innings and reached 88 before being dismissed by Harbhajan Singh. He showed promise as a test player, and was confident enough to engage in dialogue with the Indian bowlers while compiling his innings. The