English weather in India, that most uncommon phenomenon, has sustained England throughout this final Test, but yesterday the comparison became more apt than they could bear.

The skies were not just overcast, with the encouragement that has brought to the pace bowlers, it actually rained, and that freakish occurrence might just have ended England's chances of tieing the Test series at the last.

England had selected wisely, unlike India, whose reliance upon three spinners had increasingly been proved to be mistaken, and had taken a firm hold of the game, India completing the third day on 218 for seven, still 118 behind.

They even had the joy of dismissing Sachin Tendulkar, stumped for the first time in his Test career, and there is not an England player who will not view the genius's fall for 90 as vindication of the suffocating bowling unapologetically employed against him.

But what control England held had been gained with cautious, disciplined cricket, and they could ill afford the loss to rain yesterday of 47 overs. Time was not on their side.

Until the rain intervened, Matthew Hoggard had imagined himself at Headingley, as the outswinger that had remained hidden throughout the tour returned to greet him like a lost puppy. Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly before lunch and Virender Sehwag in the afternoon represented three excellent scalps in his three for 65.

Hoggard once again stomped happily back to his mark, cursing his occasional inaccuracy and pulling those strange faces that have caused his team-mates to nickname him "Shrek" after the lovable animated monster.

England's defensive tactics against Tendulkar have become the source of heated debate, but there was no let-up yesterday as Andrew Flintoff pounded the ball into his body from around the wicket and Ashley Giles's slow left-arm was delivered wide of Tendulkar's leg-stump from over the wicket.

Hoggard at least had the satisfaction of bowling conventionally. England conceded only 50 runs before the interval and 29 of them strayed from Hoggard's seven overs, but he did have Dravid caught at the wicket and then dismissed India's captain, Ganguly, sixth ball for nought, his poor run continuing with a reaching drive which Mark Butcher snapped up at slip.

Giles's pre-lunch duel with Tendulkar degenerated into an unedifying stalemate. Tendulkar was determined not to lose patience; Nasser Hussain was equally adamant that he would.

For once, statistics told everything: 90% of Giles's morning deliveries were pitched outside leg-stump, and of those received by Tendulkar, he padded away more than half. If the occasional ball leapt out of the rough, it barely seemed to matter.

The first hour after lunch was as engrossing as the morning had been unbearable. If Tendulkar was becalmed, Virender Sehwag was in buccaneering mood. He played and missed repeatedly at Hoggard - "14 times, they tell me," the bowler complained.

Briefly, chants for Tendulkar were drowned by the roars for Sehwag who after four Tests is already known as The Tendulkar of Najafgarh. Well, in Najafgarh anyway, but the acclaim may soon spread beyond one small village near Delhi.

What Tendulkar had resisted for hours, Sehwag immediately pulled off with daring, repeatedly using his feet to drive Giles high over the legside. Tendulkar was being upstaged and he was stirred into a response.

The crowd's acclaim for Sehwag had unwittingly become the missing component in England's plan to break Tendulkar's nerve.

He followed suit, reaching 90 with 12 in one over against Giles, but then sallied down the pitch in Giles's next over, miscalculated, and James Foster pulled off the simplest of stumpings.

From a jubilant pack of England players, Hussain walked a few strides away and raised both arms into the air. If his tactics would never be admired for their beauty, and had arguably taken too long to succeed, one could only admire his sheer bloodymindedness.

Sehwag was unaffected by Tendulkar's departure, or the rain that soon followed. One reverse sweep against Giles was probably the most astonishing shot of the series.

But the new ball was due, and England took it with relief. After almost causing him to drag on to his stumps in his first over with the new ball, Hoggard dismissed him in his second, courtesy of Foster's neat, diving catch in front of first slip.