AND THAT'S THE CLOSE OF PLAY! The umpires deem that the light is bad enough to take the players off. That double blow just before the close has really tipped the game in India's favour now.
England 282-6 (73 overs) NOW FLINTOFF FOLLOWS! Flintoff is caught bat-pad by short-leg as he pushed forward to meet a Mishra delivery. That's bad news for England, who now only have four wickets remaining, with nightwatchman Jimmy Anderson and Matt Prior at the crease.
England 280-5 (71 overs) PIETERSEN IS GONE! Harbhajan goes round the wicket and gets one to straighten...it strikes the captain on the pads, and the appeal is upheld! The breakthrough is made, although it comes completely against the run of play.
England 273-4 (67 overs) The light is holding up very well; this is the latest we have played in this match so far, and there are no problems with the light whatsoever. Even if they were offered it, KP and Flintoff would likely turn it down as they try to continue to eat into India's lead. India are still on the defensive, and the batsmen have to be content with singles.
England 260-4 (64 overs) Sharma gives Flintoff a bit of a working over with a fine little spell as the ball just begins to reverse-swing a little. Pietersen then jumps left-handed and sweeps Mishra for four through fine-leg. Very impressive stuff from the England captain.
England 251-4 (61 overs) Flintoff reaches his 25th Test fifty, coming off 96 balls; his first Test 50 in 10 innings and it came at a crucial time and at a good pace, although things have slowed up recently. India seem happy for the game to drift; Dhoni must have been spooked by England's fightback.
England 242-4 (58 overs) England are struggling to continue to be aggressive with India's defensive fields and bowling; Pietersen and Flintoff are trying to work the ball into unorthodox gaps, the boundaries having completely dried up. The match is in stalemate at the moment.
England 235-4 (55 overs) India have gone on the defensive here as they seek to find a way to stop bleeding runs. Zaheer is bowling a line well outside of off-stump to a heavily-weighted off-side field, while Mishra is doing the opposite into the rough outside leg stump from the other end.
England 226-4 (52 overs) Mishra has gone around the wicket to KP and Flintoff now, aiming for the footholes outside leg-stump. It could be perceived as a bit of a negative tactic from India, but surely they can't be concerned about the defeat...can they?
England 217-4 (50 overs) England begin where they left off as Pietersen drives Zaheer down the ground with a full-face for the 28th four of the England innings. On the evidence of the previous couple of days, it seems unlikely that the light will hold out for two and a half hours longer, but England could well be fairly close to the Indian total at the end of the day.
The evening session is underway; it could be a long one as the umpires try to make up for the lost time from the fog earlier in the day.
England 211-4 (48 overs) TEA: Another good session for England, who motor along at 4.7 rpo during the afternoon session on the way to cutting India's lead to 242. Pietersen and Flintoff have looked in excellent touch, playing the spinner superbly well - but there remains a long, long way to go.
England 201-4 (45 overs) Pietersen reaches his century! Superb knock from the captain, coming off just 125 balls as he really tries to take the fight to India. 14 boundaries and one six in the 15th Test century of his career.
England 198-4 (44 overs) Flintoff survives a strong LBW shout from Mishra, the England man saved by a long stride forward as the ball struck his front pad. The tourists remain 255 runs behind as tea approaches in Mohali.
England 188-4 (41 overs) After a nice spell from Flintoff, Pietersen takes up the mantel, crashing one of his trademark 'switch-hit' sixes off Harbhajan Singh, high into the mid-wicket stand. The skipper is fast approaching a remarkable century.
England 164-4 (38 overs) Flintoff, wearing just a cap as India attack exclusively with spin, is buying into his captain's aggressive policy. He is striking the ball superbly in this knock, and is already up to 25no from just 23 balls thanks to a four-ball spell of 4-4-0-6.
England 145-4 (33 overs) Flintoff has come out to join Pietersen; these two are the ideal men for England to have in this situation as they chase fast runs - although Flintoff does take time to settle early in his innings against spin.
England 131-4 (30 overs) LEG-SPINNER DOES FOR COLLINGWOOD! Mishra throws a ball up outside off-stump, and Collingwood can't resist a push; the ball takes the edge, and Dhoni takes the catch.
England 128-3 (28 overs) Pietersen comes down the track to powerfully drive Harbhajan down the ground for another boundary. The tourists are still motoring along at 4.36 runs-per-over.
England 113-3 (26 overs) The wicket has rather checked England's progress, with Collingwood taking a while to get going. Pietersen is the key man here; if he can stay in until the end of the day, England will have taken a sizable chunk out of India's first innings. Meanwhile, Pietersen and Yuvraj are going at it in the middle; plenty of chat out there.
England 104-3 (22 overs) WICKET! THE STAND IS BROKEN! Pietersen joins Cook in passing 50, his landmark coming off 61 balls and featuring nine boundaries. But just a couple of balls later, Zaheer fires in a reverse-swinging yorker that traps Cook in front of middle and India have their breakthrough.
England 99-2 (19 overs) Cook reaches his half-century, although he is fortunate to survive an edge that just fails to carry to Tendulkar at first slip, the ball running away for four. It's a 16th Test half-ton for the opener, and comes from just 56 balls.
England 82-2 (16 overs) Pietersen continues the assault with two boundaries in an over off Zaheer, coming fast on the back of three boundaries in four balls from Cook - a batsman not usually known for an attacking outlook.
England 60-2 (13 overs) Dhoni starts with the spin of Yuvraj, perhaps another attempt to get into the mind of Cook and Pietersen.
The afternoon session is about to begin; can England continue their aggressive policy on this wearing pitch against the skills of Harbhajan and Mishra?
England 56-2 (12 overs) LUNCH: Good recovery from England after losing those two early wickets, with Cook matching his captain's aggression as the tourists score at 4.75 per over, trying to get quick runs to give them a chance in this match.
England 45-2 (9 overs) Now Cook has joined the party; the left-hander smoothly hooks Zaheer through backwards square-leg to move into the twenties. The pitch actually looks in the best shape of the match, and there is no swing to speak of - England should look to capitalise on these fairly benign conditions.
England 29-2 (7 overs) Pietersen's one-man fightback goes on as the England skipper attacks Zaheer and Sharma with some aggressive drives. He moves on to 21no from just 23 balls, knowing that any slim chances England have of winning this match mean getting up to India's first innings score quickly.
England 15-2 (5 overs) India captain Dhoni makes the interesting move of immediately replacing Zaheer with left-arm spinner Yuvraj for the first over at incoming England captain Pietersen in an effort to unsettle his opposite number, although KP launches a mini-counter-attack with a couple of fours.
England 2-2 (2 overs) IT'S GOT WORSE! Sharma yorks Bell with the first ball of the second over, sending off-stump flying back! England are in complete disarray!
England 0-1 (1 over) DISASTEROUS START! Strauss falls over a little as Zaheer drifts the third ball of the innings in at his pads...the ball beats the batsman's push and strikes the front pad...big appeal, and Strauss is gone!
England 0-0 Strauss and Cook have come out to join the India team in the middle; the umpires are happy with the light, and off we go!
04.45 - GOOD NEWS! We're going to get underway at 5.00am our time.
04.30 - News is that the umpires have been out and taken some light readings, but it is still not light enough for play; the fog seems to be lifting a little as the sun rises in the sky, but we're not there quite yet.
Hi there cricket fans! Play had been scheduled to start at 3.30am but there will be a delay, I'm afraid, due to some pesky fog that is hanging over the ground.