Strauss and Collingwood put England in command

Dec 13, 2008

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was India's best hope on the third morning and he resisted with a half-century•Getty Images

Monty Panesar gave England the breakthrough, having Harbhajan caught at forward short leg for 40•Getty Images

England started confidently, with Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss taking the lead past 100•Getty Images

Yuvraj Singh dismissed Kevin Pietersen in the next over, trapping him lbw with an arm ball as England slid to 43 for 3•Getty Images

The pair added an unbeaten 129 for the fourth wicket as England ended the third day with a lead of 247 to leave India staring at a daunting fourth-innings target•Getty Images

Harbhajan Singh also defied England's bowlers and added 75 for the seventh wicket with Dhoni•Getty Images

Zaheer Khan fell to Andrew Flintoff for 1 and Panesar removed Dhoni for 53 as India lost three wickets for seven runs•Getty Images

But a momentary loss in concentration cost Cook his wicket, as he edged an easy catch to Dhoni off Ishant Sharma with the score on 28•Getty Images

But Strauss steadied the ship after tea, going past fifty for the second time in the match•Getty Images

Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma added 22 for the last wicket but Flintoff ended the innings, bowling Mishra for 12, to give England a handy 75-run lead•AFP

The introduction of spin yielded quick results as Mishra struck in his third over, removing Ian Bell, who lobbed an easy catch to Gautam Gambhir at short leg for 7•Getty Images

Paul Collingwood proved to be the ideal foil for Strauss, finishing the day on 60•Getty Images