The conditions – a flat pitch and an unusually bright day – might have made the Indian batsmen feel at home. It reflected in their batting on Friday as they paraded a strong show to march into a commanding position in the second one-day against England in Bristol.
Luck went India's way right from the word go with skipper Rahul Dravid winning the toss and the batsmen cashed in on in style as India garnered 329 for seven in 50 overs. The cornerstone of the big total was a smooth 99 from Sachin Tendulkar and a whirlwind unbeaten 92 from Dravid that provided India momentum in the middle and end overs.
It took a glaring error from the umpire — a common phenomenon in this series — to curb Tendulkar's free-flowing innings. Tendulkar spun around a bouncer from Andrew Flintoff and the ball took a deflection on his armguard before Matt Prior completed a diving effort behind the wicket.
To the disbelief of Tendulkar, Ian Gould raised the fatal finger and the Mumbaikar's wry smile said it all. It was the third time in this trip he had been dismissed in the 90s. He had missed out on a three-figure mark against South Africa in Belfast and against England in the second Test at Trent Bridge.
But before that unfortunate sequence of events, Tendulkar played a peach of an innings. India — down 0-1 in the seven-match series after their 104-run defeat in Southampton — needed a good beginning here to challenge the hosts. Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly did precisely that during their opening partnership that was worth 113 runs.
But Tendulkar dominated the alliance in his inimitable way, settling into a fine fettle from the beginning itself and playing shots to all corners of the park to drive the home side bowlers to despair. The bounce was true and the ball came nicely onto the bat, just as the Mumbaikar would have liked. Tendulkar soon indicated to all that who was in charge on the day. The forceful cut off James Anderson through the covers and a punch straight down the ground off Stuart Broad revealed Tendulkar of old.
Offering full face of the bat, and moving the feet and hands exemplarily, he put away the bowlers with ease and panache. Barring a couple of short deliveries from Chris Tremlett, nothing troubled Tendulkar and he avenged his bothersome moments soon when he danced down the pitch and lofted the towering paceman over the bowler's head for a six.
Perhaps, the good memories about this ground too might have helped him. The master batsman had hit hundreds in his last two outings here; against Kenya in the 1999 World Cup and three years later against Sri Lanka in a tri-series. Never for a moment did he appear to be thinking of a hundred on the day and it was a shame that a magnificent innings ended in such a poor manner.
 Ganguly, in contrast, looked circumspect and extremely edgy in running between the wickets, not so extraordinary in the case of the Kolkatan and on a couple of instances he had close escapes from another run out.  But once he got his timing right, he too played some handsome shots and Tremlett was at the wrong end of the cannon. Ganguly hammered Tremlett for two fours and a six in the bowler's third over that leaked 17 runs in all.
However, his tenure did not last long as Ganguly took one chance too many. He tried to loft Flintoff over cover, but he did not time the shot properly and it ended in the hands of Paul Collingwood.  Yuvraj Singh, promoted to number three, scratched around for a while, but he broke the shackles in superb fashion, slamming three consecutive fours off Dimitri Mascarenahas. He helped Tendulkar add 67 runs for the second wicket, before the latter returned to the hut.  That did not deter Yuvraj from playing a vigorous innings. In the company of Dravid, who scored his 80th one-day fifty, he realised 63 runs for the third wicket before perishing in his attempt to force the run rate. The brisk 59 runs partnership between Dravid and Dhoni helped India to reach the strong total.

SCORE BOARD

INDIA
Ganguly c C’wood b Flintoff 39
(54b, 5x4, 1x6)
Tendulkar c Prior b Flintoff 99
(112b, 15x4, 1x6)
Yuvraj c Collingwood b Broad 49
(53b, 6x4)
Dravid (not out) 92
(63b, 11x4, 1x6)
Dhoni c Tremlett b Anderson 21
(18b, 3x4)
Kaarthick lbw Flintoff 1
(2b)
Agarkar c Prior b Flintoff 1
(3b)
Powar c Prior b Flintoff 1
(2b)
Chawla (not out) 1
(1b)
Extras (LB-8, W-9, NB-8) 25
Total (for 7 wkts in 50 overs) 329
Fall of wickets: 1-113 (Ganguly), 2-180 (Tendulkar), 3-243 (Yuvraj), 4-302 (Dhoni), 5-310 (Kaarthick), 6-324 (Agarkar), 7-326 (Powar).
Bowling: Stuart Broad 9-0-54-1 (nb-2, w-1), James Anderson 10-1-56-1 (w-3), Andrew Flintoff 10-0-56-5 (nb-3, w-1), Chriss Tremlett 9-0-73-0 (nb-3, w-2), DimitriMascarenhas 4-0-31-0 (w-2), Paul Collingwood 4-0-24-0, Ravi Bopara 4-0-27-0.
Scoring Pattern: 5 overs: 22/0, 10 overs: 39/0, 15: 69/0, 20: 113/1, 25: 146/1, 30: 175/1, 35: 202/2, 40: 236/2, 45: 282/3, End of Innings: 329/7 in 50 overs.
Runs during Power Plays: Power Play 1: 1-10: 39/0, Power Play 2: 11-15: 30/0, Power Play 3: 16-20: 42/1.