The day-night league match between India and England in the triangular one-day series was abandoned due to rains here on Thursday. England were 53 for one in 12.3 overs in reply to India’s 285 for four when rain disrupted play. Nick Knight was batting on 17 while skipper Nasser Hussain was on nine. Marcus Trescothick was the only batsman to be dismissed, trapped leg before wicket by Zaheer Khan for 23.

Both the teams earned two points. Earlier, the genius of Sachin Tendulkar was in full-flow as he powered India to a huge 285 for four with a magnificent unbeaten century. Tendulkar completed his 32nd one-day hundred, a 108-ball 105 with eight fours and a six, and rescued India from a precarious position along with Rahul Dravid who made a fine 82.

The duo added 169 runs for the fourth wicket in 35 overs after India had lost the top three batsmen for 52 runs, having elected to bat. They paced their innings beautifully, scoring at a slow but steady rate, before exploding at the 40-over mark. The last ten overs produced 106 runs for India, with Yuvraj Singh, who came at the fall of Dravid in the 45th over, blasting 40 runs off just 19 deliveries.

It was an exemplary display of one-day batting by Tendulkar and Dravid as the duo rebuilt the innings after India had lost three early wickets, including that of skipper Sourav Ganguly to the very first ball. Ganguly, who won his first toss of this series, was adjudged leg before wicket to Darren Gough while Virender Sehwag (16) and Dinesh Mongia (27) gifted away their wickets after having settled down.

But Tendulkar and Dravid batted sensibly, taking no risk as they scored through singles and twos and ran quickly between the wickets. The England bowlers made matters difficult for the two Indian stars with some tight bowling during the middle overs. Boundaries were very hard to come by and even the singles were not very easy to pick. The first 40 overs saw only 11 boundaries, just two by Tendulkar, and a six being struck.

But the two batsmen never lost their cool, kept grafting and worked hard for their runs. Once 40 overs were completed, India comfortably placed at 179 for three, both of them pressed the accelerator and started going for the big hits. The sudden attack put the England bowlers under pressure and they started making mistakes. The confidence with which Tendulkar was batting was exemplified in the way he handled left-arm spinner Ashley Giles.

Giles, who had created problems for Tendulkar in India’s home series against England earlier this year with his outside the leg-stump line, tried to use the same strategy in a bid to frustrate the master batsman again but this time Tendulkar was ready to take him on. He hit Giles for two boundaries over mid-off in the 41st over, taking 11 runs out of it which really set the stage for the big hitting in the last ten overs. The next over from Giles yielded 12 runs, with Tendulkar picking another boundary, this time with a reverse sweep. The bowler was taken out of the attack after that.

But the Indian juggernaut did not stop. Dravid, who played another beautiful knock after his match-winning effort at Lord’s in the first match against England, was out in the 45th over while trying to go over the top. He was caught by Andrew Flintoff at deep mid-wicket fence off Paul Collingwood when the Indian score was 221.

The 169-run partnership between Dravid and Tendulkar was India’s best for the fourth wicket against England. That brought Yuvraj Singh to the crease and the Punjab youngster straightaway launched into a vigourous assault that proved to be a fitting finale to the admirable efforts of Tendulkar and Dravid. Yuvraj took 16 runs off Collinwood in the 47th over with three boundaries. He hit a towering six in the last over off Gough, which once again produced 16 runs.

Tendulkar, in the meanwhile, reached his first one-day hundred against England with a two off Gough, his second 50 coming off just 34 balls as compared to the 72 he took to reach the first. The two added 64 runs for the unfinished fifth wicket in just 33 balls.