Calamity struck for England's most unfortunate cricketer once again as the tourists were left aggrieved at India's sportsmanship - or lack of it - in the final Test.

The freak dismissal of Michael Vaughan, given out for handling the ball, ironically in his 13th Test, eroded England's solid foundations at Bangalore and left Nasser Hussain and company questioning the hosts' morals.

Attempting a sweep, the Yorkshire batsman failed to connect with a Sarandeep Singh delivery and when the ball trickled off his pads he instinctively grabbed it with his right hand and ushered it away.

Virender Sehwag appealed at short leg and umpire AV Jayaprakash confirmed Vaughan, who had made an attractive 64, was dismissed.

Having lamented a plethora of injuries which have seen him feature in less than half of the Tests played since his international debut two years ago, Vaughan thought he was in for a change of luck after getting his recall when Graham Thorpe left the tour.

But his dismissal, following a century stand with Mark Ramprakash who also made a half-century before being controversially judged caught at slip off Sarandeep, stopped him capitalising on his chance.

After his elegant 138-ball innings, he spoke to Hussain and other players in the dressing room and revealed: "They were as disappointed as I was but it has happened and we have to get on with the game."

Match referee Denis Lindsay confirmed that no England official had approached him about the incident but the tourists will no doubt rue the moment of madness as they closed on 255 for six.

The score was 206 for three when Vaughan shaped to sweep and only moments later Andrew Flintoff's poor trot had continued when he was caught at cover for another nought.

Ramprakash was then caught by Rahul Dravid at slip although the ball clearly came off his pad.

"To lose three wickets in that last session probably just put India on the front foot a bit," Vaughan admitted.

But Craig White, a centurion at Ahmedabad last week, and James Foster, who shared in a healthy stand with the Yorkshire all-rounder in that innings are unbeaten on 30 and 14 respectively.

Twice they went off for poor visibility - floodlights were used from the outset on a gloomy day - and the four overs lost were to be made up this morning.

Earlier, England wavered after Javagal Srinath struck twice on his home ground to dismiss Marcus Trescothick and captain Nasser Hussain while Mark Butcher perished to a run-out.

Hussain won the toss yet again, having overturned his coin flipping fortunes at Ahmedabad after 10 straight Test losses, and chose to bat on an overcast morning.

The England captain's positive call looked a good one with Vaughan and Ramprakash in tandem on a newly-laid Chinnaswamy Stadium wicket that is expected to provide considerable turn as the match progresses.

India named Sarandeep as their third spinner alongside Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, searching for his 300th Test wicket on his home Karnataka turf.

However, it was sole frontline seamer Srinath who exploited the assistance on offer to remove Trescothick and Hussain while Butcher was caught short after driving straight to Dravid at cover and being sent back by Hussain.