India defeat England in bad-tempered Test

India beat England in a frequently bad-tempered second Test yesterday to take a 1-0 lead ahead of next week's series decider.

India withstood the loss of three batsmen on the final day at Trent Bridge to win by seven wickets and take a crucial advantage heading into the last of three Tests at The Oval.

England players put three jelly beans on the pitch, allegedly to distract the India batsmen, while India pace bowler Sree Santh was fined half his match fee for barging past England captain Michael Vaughan at the crease.

"There have been a couple of times when it's gone over the top, but that's what you want in Test cricket," Vaughan said. "I don't think the line has been crossed yet."

India head into the final Test, which starts August 9, needing only to avoid defeat to become the first team to win a Test series in England since Australia in 2001.

Laid base for victory

India laid the platform for victory when it bowled out England for a lowly 198 in the first innings.

Man-of-the-Match Zaheer Khan moved the ball both ways and took 4-59 on his way to match figures of 9-134.

"It was good bowling on the first day," Dravid said. "You can win a lot of good tosses but you still have to do the basics right and put the ball in the right places, and that's what our seamers did."

Led by 91 from Tendulkar and half centuries by four other players, India then made 481 for a first-innings lead despite the ball continuing to swing. Vaughan hit 124 in the second innings for his 17th Test century on Monday. England were eventually out for 355, leaving India to chase just 73 for victory.

England did not have enough runs to protect and India eased to 73-3 and victory. Rahul Dravid ended unbeaten on 11 and Sourav Ganguly on two as India scored the 63 runs it needed from the day in just over 21 overs.

Openers Wasim Jaffer and Denesh Karthik scored 22 apiece, while Sachin Tendulkar scored one.