Images: India, England tie on 338 runs

India and England played out a thriller in Bangalore on Sunday, the World Cup Group B encounter ending in a tie after England, riding on Andrew Strauss's brilliant century, failed to cross the finish line.

Chasing 339 for victory, England finished at 338 for 8 in their alloted 50 overs.

Earlier, playing their first World Cup match at home, India got off to rousing start.

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Riding on a brilliant batting display, led by Sachin Tendulkar, India amassed 338 before being dismissed on the second last ball of the innings.

Openers Virender Sehwag (35 off 26) and Tendulkar (120) gave the capacity crowd their money's worth by getting off to a brilliant start after captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat.

Sehwag lived dangerously in the first over but was lucky not to lose his wicket to James Anderson, who bowled brilliantly in the opening over.

Sehwag continued to play attacking cricket and welcomed Ajmal Shahzad to the bowling crease with a cracking boundary through the covers.

Then Tendulkar joined in the run-feast and got off the mark with a beautiful cover drive off the bowling of Anderson. Both batsmen made their intent clear as India raced to 44 for no loss in seven overs.

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Then England captain Andrew Strauss made a bowling change. He replaced Shahzad with Bresnan and the decision paid the huge dividend.

Bresnan struck in his first over, picking the dangerous Sehwag, who was looking good for a big one.

The Indian opener tried to guide one through the vacant slips region, but was caught behind by wicketkeeper Prior, diving to his right, after a quick 35 from 26 balls.

Tendulkar was not going to be bogged down by the loss of his opening partner and began to cut loose.

He was joined by Gautam Gambhir (51 off 61), who came in at No 3, after Sehwag's fall. Gambhir was beaten twice outside the off-stump by Bresnan.

But it would not affect Tendulkar, who looked in fine knick, hitting a flurry of boundaries. Both batsmen were particularly severe on spinner Graeme Swann.

Gambhir used his feet well to despatch Swann to the boundary.

Strauss kept rotating the bowling in desperation for a wicket. England finally got the breakthrough they needed when Swann got one to turn a long way, beating Gambhir's intended drive on the off-side, bowling him after a good innings of 51 from 61 balls.

Then Yuvraj Singh (58 off 50 deliveries) and Tendulkar kept the strike rotating in the middle overs. Tendulkar freed his arms and slammed Anderson and Shahzad to boundaries in consecutive overs.

Yuvraj also got into the act just as soon as he made his way to the middle, flicking a full toss from Anderson through midwicket for a boundary.

Sachin then went on the complete his fifth hundred in World Cups. The Master Blaster glanced Bresnan fine on the leg side for a four to bring up his century from 103 balls in the 35th over.

On reaching his 100, Tendulkar continued with the demolition job. He and Yuvraj sent Swann to the cleaners as they took 59 off 9 overs from the spinner.

India looked to score big after they took the batting Powerplay.

Tendulkar walked across his stumps to Anderson and flicked him through fine leg for a four and moved to 120, his highest score at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.

But he fell to the very next delivery, caught in the covers off a leading edge.

Once Tendulkar fell, Yardy and Bresnan made it difficult for Dhoni and Yuvraj to score freely and the batting Powerplay didn't exactly go to plan for India, as they scored just 32 runs for the loss of one wicket.

Yuvraj notched up his 46th ODI half century by hitting Anderson to the boundary as he combined with captain Dhoni to maintain the run flow.

Yuvraj and Dhoni returned to the pavilion in quick succession as they tried to force the pace of scoring in the slog overs.

At one stage, India were cruising at 305 for three in 45.5, but Bresnan triggered a lower order collapse as he took three wickets in his final over to end with splendid figures of five for 48 in ten overs.

Bresnan made three strikes in the 49th over. He first had Yusuf Pathan out for 14 and then had Virat Kohli bowled for 8 off the very next ball. He followed this by picking Harbhajan Singh for a duck off the fourth ball of the same over..

India lost the plot in the final few overs, as seven wickets fell for 33 runs in the space of four overs and the hosts folded for 338 off 49.5 overs.

Chasing India's daunting total of 339 for victory, England openers Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen got off to brilliant start.

Captain, Strauss gave his team the perfect start with two boundaries in the opening over by Zaheer Khan.

Kevin Pietersen got going in the second over as he glanced a full delivery off Munaf Patel through fine leg for his first four.

In that same over, Strauss got another boundary as he smashed Munaf through point.

But India managed to check the England batsmen with some disciplined bowling and after five overs, England were 28 for no loss, with just nine coming from the last three overs.

Pietersen also decided to cut loose as he drove Zaheer twice the ground for two boundaries, in the seventh over.

Zaheer didn't do much in that over but went for 13 runs as England raced to 49 from seven overs.

Pietersen continued to treat Zaheer with disdain and punished him to two more boundaries in the 9th over.

India finally got a desired breakthrough in the 10th over when Munaf plucked a stunning catch off his own bowling, on his follow through.

Pietersen hit one straight back to the bowler, who tried to evade the powerful blow. But he got lucky when the ball hit his hand and lobbed straight up, and Munaf caught the rebound easily with one hand.

Piyush Chawla is introduced into the attack to replace Zaheer, who was hit for 40 runs in his five overs. A big test for Chawla, playing in his first ODI at home, to be bowling inside the Bowling Powerplay.

But Chawla just couldn't get it right. Dhoni then introduced Harbhajan from the other end to get the elusive 2nd wicket.

Bhajji bowled his first over well, putting Strauss all at sea.

Trott also got his first boundary, when he flicked a full delivery from Harbhajan through midwicket. In the same over, Strauss brought up his fifty off as many deliveries with a single through the covers that also took his team past the 100-run mark.

Strauss kept getting the runs at the other end but England were in a spot of bother in the 17th over when Trott was trapped leg before wicket by Chawla for 16. Trott went back and tried to play across the line but missed. The young leggie the claimed a very important wicket just at the right time for the hosts.

Strauss and Ian Bell joined forces as they revived the England innings, with boundaries at regular intervals.

England playing it smartly in the middle overs by milking the middle overs for singles.

Strauss completed his century off 99 balls, his first century in the World Cup and it could not have come at a better time for England.

Strauss and Bell continued to milk the Indian bowlers. Both batsmen showed no mercy as they went on the attack and close the gap and work towards coming in India's reach.

Munaf kept bowling the short balls and Strauss kept dispatching them to the boundary.

The duo bring up their 150-run partnership from 132 balls for the third wicket as England slowly take control of the contest.

Munaf Patel conceded eight runs in his eighth over with England not taking any risks and just rotating the strike.

Even Chawla is milked for singles in his next over and on the one occasion when he dropped it short, Strauss pulled him over midwicket for a four.

That saw Strauss go past the 150-run mark off 136 balls, with the help of 18 fours and a six.

With England needing 67 off the last ten overs it looked all downhill for India.

England took the Batting Powerplay after 42 overs and India brought back Zaheer Khan back into the attack.

The Indian pacer changed the script, picking two quick wickets in the over.

Bell tried to break the shackles but lofted a simple catch and was caught in the covers by Kohli.

Bell hobbles back to the pavilion after a good innings of 69 from 71 balls.

Off the very next ball, Zaheer dismissed dangerman Strauss leg before wicket with a fast swinging yorker. The England captain called for a review but the decision stayed as Strauss was dismissed leg before wicket after a cracking knock of 158 from 145 balls, hitting 18 fours and a six.

England lost their grip on the contest when Collingwood tried a wild swipe and was bowled for one by Zaheer.

Zaheer finished with figures of 64 for 3 off his ten.

Then it was Matt Prior's turn to turn to go back to the pavillion. Prior tried to loft Harbhajan, bowling from round the wicket, down the ground but lofted a simple catch to substitute Suresh Raina at mid-on.

Over No 47, and Munaf replaced Harbhajan, who made impact on arrival.

Michael Yardy tried the paddle sweep but hit it straight to Sehwag at short fine leg to be dismissed for 13.

The five overs of Batting Powerplay (43-47) saw England score 25 runs, but losing four wickets in the process.

Five runs come from that over and England now need 29 from the last two overs.

Chawla was handed the responsibility to bowl the 49th over, but it just wasn't the leg-spinner's day.

Chawla was slammed by Swann for a six through mid-wicket. Bresnan got two runs with a slog sweep and followed that with a six over midwicket. Chawla ended the over with a wicket as Bresnan was bowled going for a big shot.

Chawla finished with disappointing figues of two for 72 in ten overs.

With 14 needed of the final over, England's Ajmal Shahzad and Graeme Swann decided to take the attack to the bowler, Munaf Patel.

Swann stole three runs off the first two deliveries of the over. Then Ajmal Shahzad lofted Munaf straight down the ground for a six to make it five needed from three balls.

Shahzad missed the next ball but they ran through for a quick bye, to make it four from two balls.

Swann picked two runs through midwicket region to make it two needed from the last delivery.

But eventually England and India had to be satisfied with a tie, as Swann got a single run from the final ball of the match.