CRICKET/INDIA v ENGLAND:ON KEVIN Pietersen's elevation to the England captaincy his praise for Steve Harmison was unstinting. He loved "Big Steve" and wanted him to be the spearhead of his England side. In his third Test in charge he was part of the selection panel that dropped him. Big Steve equals big problem.

Harmison was replaced by Stuart Broad, an up-and-coming bowler with a Test average of more than 40 but overflowing with the sort of verve and imagination England sorely needed as they attempted to recover from the heartbreak of Chennai with an unlikely victory to level the series.

Broad turned out to be England's only wicket-taker yesterday, having Virender Sehwag caught at the wicket in his first over.

As English spirit foundered on Gautam Gambhir's fourth Test hundred and the draining sight of Rahul Dravid slowly, inexorably, piecing together his game, it was Broad whose sprightly optimism and willingness to experiment most caught the eye. At the toss, won by India, Pietersen pointedly praised Broad's "positive attitude" and "the way he carries himself". By implication he could provide something Harmison could not.

Dropped after two games of the one-day series, Harmison was then ignored for the vital first session of the final day in Chennai. Not for the first time an overseas tour has ended with deep disappointment. His thoughts have probably already turned to a Northumberland Christmas.

Peter Moores, England's coach, defended the selection of Broad: "Steve was disappointed. It is not a personal thing. You pick the side you know will give you the best chance to win the game. He hasn't bowled particularly badly out here. It is tough for seamers in India. Stuart is developing very quickly. He has got good variations and did very well in the one-day format. He showed in the one-day series he has got aggression, he swings the ball and he creates bounce. He is a thinking cricketer."

It proved a dreary day in the Punjab. In the soft half-light of a north Indian winter able-bodied men with little work to detain them sat cross-legged in heavy shawls and the world seemed comprised entirely of shades of grey. But, as the day lengthened, for England there were no shades of grey, just a stark cricketing truth in black and white: there seems no way back.

For Giles Clarke, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, it must have made particularly painful watching. In the sort of little ceremony to which Indian cricket is so beholden, Clarke was presented before the game with a book entitled From Learners to Leaders: 75 Years of Test cricket in India. Clarke needed no reminding of the great order of things and must have been tempted to flick back to some pictures of the good old days as Gambhir and Dravid extended their partnership to 173 in 70 overs.

England's attack was disciplined, yet unpenetrative, the only mediocre spell being Monty Panesar's eight overs for 30 in his first effort, before he switched ends and settled slightly. Graeme Swann was an off-spinner with both method and purpose and deserved the reward of a wicket, never more so than when Daryl Harper refused a good lbw shout against Gambhir on 70. Moments earlier his edge against Swann as he came down the pitch brushed the fingers of the diving Paul Collingwood.

Gambhir also made a hundred against Australia on this ground two months ago. A pitch bare at the ends but green in the middle was comfortable to bat on for all but the first hour. Diplomatically, perhaps, he still regarded this hundred as the more special.

"The bowlers were coming hard at us in the morning," he said afterwards. "Broad bowled well, especially on this kind of a track. I thought he was the best bowler today."

England swung the new ball briefly and Dravid began uncomfortably. By the end, however, the most famous defensive bat in cricket was as hard to penetrate as the security around the ground. Junior Punjabi police officers, it seems, must frisk standing up, while their seniors, perhaps in respect of their age, are allowed to frisk from the comfort of their chair, therefore concentrating entirely on a small area they can reach around the waist.

Dravid's first half-century for nine Test innings will quieten the suggestion that his career is reaching its conclusion and delight the purists. But for many, including a tiny sprinkling of England supporters, he can become a bit of a bind: permanently watchful, occasionally unwatchable.

The loss of 18 overs to bad light, split between both ends of the day, was something that England could ill afford to concede but by the close they had probably had quite enough for one day.