MOHALI: England off-spinner Graeme Swann snared three quick wickets Saturday to haul England back into the contest in the second and final test against India.
Swann's efforts came after India's Rahul Dravid belatedly rediscovered his touch to post a century.

Dravid (136) and opener Gautam Gambhir (179) shared a record second-wicket partnership of 314 to put India into a commanding position, before Swann (3-88) dismissed both in quick succession and then went on to remove ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar for 11.

India was 356-5 at tea on the second day, having also lost V.V.S. Laxman for a duck in a top-order slump that saw the hosts lose four wickets for just 19 runs during the afternoon session.

Yuvraj Singh was batting on 12 and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on six at the break.

Resuming at the overnight score of 179-1, Gambhir and Dravid stretched their partnership to create a new Indian test record for the second wicket against England, breaking the previous mark of 192 set by Ajit Wadekar and Farokh Engineer at Mumbai in 1973.

England's bowlers made no impression in the morning session despite claiming the second new ball early Saturday when play began 30 minutes earlier to make up for Friday's lost time.

Ending the roughest patch of his career, this was Dravid's 26th test hundred, but first in 20 innings, and his fourth ton against England, against whom he captained India to an away test series triumph in 2007.

Dravid's composed innings amply rewarded the Indian team management for resisting the temptation to drop him down the order. He is India's second-highest run scorer and features in the select group of batsmen in test cricket's 10,000-run club.

At the other end, Gambhir scored briskly, hitting 25 fours and one six from 348 deliveries before cutting Swann into Cook's hands at point soon after lunch.

Gambhir, scoring his third century in four tests and the second in successive innings at Mohali, moved past 1,000 test runs in 2008, joining teammates Virender Sehwag, V.V.S. Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar who had passed the milestone this year.

It is only the second time in test history that four batsmen from one team have scored 1,000 or more test runs in the same year. This distinction was first achieved in 2006 by English batsmen Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook.

Dravid's 348-ball knock featured 19 boundaries and lasted nearly eight hours until he miscued a shot against Swann to Monty Panesar at mid-off.

Swann, who bowled throughout the session from one end, then trapped Tendulkar lbw.

Flintoff got Laxman lbw, but later saw Cook spill an easy chance at gully from Yuvraj Singh.

India leads the two-test series 1-0 after winning the opening test in Chennai by six wickets.