MOHALI, India (AP):

INDIA'S RAHUL Dravid rediscovered his touch to post a century and share a record 314-run partnership with opener Gautam Gambhir yesterday before England fought their way back into the second Test on day two.

India rode on the second-wicket stand between Dravid (136) and Gambhir (179) to make 453 but there would be some disappointment among the hosts at not further capitalising on that commanding start.

England spinner Graeme Swann (3-122) claimed three quick wickets to precipitate a middle-order collapse and India lost their last nine wickets for 133 runs.

Swann dismissed Gambhir and Dravid in quick succession and then went on to remove ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar for 11 in a penetrative afternoon seven-over spell of 3-17.

Hosts in a slump

After the second-wicket stand was broken, India's top order experienced a slump in which the hosts lost four wickets for 19 runs, which included V.V.S. Laxman's 24-ball duck.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (29), Yuvraj Singh (27), Harbhajan Singh (24) and number 10 batsman Amit Mishra (23) all got a start to push the total above 400, but India could not formulate another strong partnership.

Resuming at the overnight score of 179 for one, Gambhir and Dravid stretched their partnership to create a new Indian Test record for the second wicket against England, breaking the previous mark of 192 set by Ajit Wadekar and Farokh Engineer at Mumbai in 1973.

Dravid broke out of an extended batting slump to record his 26th Test hundred, and his fourth ton against England.

'Turn things around'

Dravid's composed innings amply rewarded the Indian team management for resisting the temptation to drop him down the order. His 348-ball knock featured 19 boundaries and lasted nearly eight hours until he miscued a shot against Swann to Monty Panesar at mid-off, and should ease the public debate about his recent poor form.

"To be honest, I did expect some scrutiny as I was not scoring runs, that goes with the territory," Dravid said. "It has been tough personally, but I felt like being just one innings away from making a big score. I had a feeling that runs are coming and that I'll turn things around by spending some time in the middle."

At the other end, Gambhir scored briskly, hitting 25 fours and one six from 348 deliveries before cutting Swann into Cook's hands at point soon after lunch.

Gambhir, scoring his third century in four Tests and the second in successive innings at Mohali, moved past 1,000 Test runs in 2008, joining teammates Virender Sehwag, V.V.S. Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar who had passed the milestone this year.

It is only the second time in Test history that four batsmen from one team have scored 1,000 or more Test runs in the same year. This distinction was first achieved in 2006 by English batsmen Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook.

Chance at gully

After Swann's breakthroughs, Andrew Flintoff got Laxman lbw, but later saw Cook spill an easy chance at gully from Yuvraj Singh.

Yuvraj became the first victim of left-arm spinner Panesar, who induced an edge to wicketkeeper Matt Prior.

Paceman James Anderson (1-84) had Dhoni caught in the covers by substitute fielder Owais Shah before Panesar (2-89) returned to dismiss Harbhajan.

Flintoff claimed the last two wickets, bowling Zaheer Khan (seven) and Mishra to finish with innings' best figures of 3-54.

"Keeping India down to 453 has brought us back in the game," Swann said. "At one stage we did not know where the next wicket was coming from. This is not the ideal batting track, a lot will depend on how well our batsmen handle the spinners."

England's openers made their way to the wicket to start the reply, but before a ball was bowled they were offered the light and retreated to the pavilion. India lead the two-Test series 1-0 after winning the opening Test in Chennai by six wickets.