Mumbai, March 22: When it came, the end was stunningly abrupt. India had reached lunch in reasonable shape on the final day of this third Test against England at the Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday at 75/4. In the next hour and a quarter, it was all over in a nightmarish hemorrhage of wickets.

For the record, India were bowled out for exactly 100 — the last seven wickets falling for 25 runs and 15.2 overs — to lose this game by a whopping 212-run margin as England earned a merited 1-1 draw in the series. For his inspirational leadership and form, Andrew Flintoff walked away with both the man of the match and man of the series awards.

The problem is that such collapses are threatening to become endemic. It has happened twice against Pakistan —at Bangalore last year and at Karachi not three months ago. Evidently, no lessons are being learnt. Even so, what happened here on this black Wednesday was nothing short of catastrophic.

At the same time, no praise is too high for this England team. They may have gained an unexpected bonus in the form of getting first strike here despite Rahul Dravid winning the toss, but thereafter worked hard to square the series.

To overcome the handicap of losing six frontline players is a Herculean one, and that is precisely whom Flintoff came to resemble as the match wore on. He batted with responsibility and purpose and bowled with fire to take crucial wickets.

Even more importantly, Flintoff turned his squad into a committed band of cricketers, lifting them to an extraordinary level of performance. Beating India at home has never been an easy task. But the sheer size of the result shows what kind of cricket this England team played.

When India resumed at 18/1 this morning, there were no signs of such a dramatic end in sight. Anil Kumble went early to a harsh leg before decision by umpire Simon Taufel and Wasim Jaffer made a hash of his second innings he had done in the first, both wickets falling to the seamers, Kumble to Hoggard and Jaffer to Flintoff.

Still, Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were at the crease when lunch was called at 75/3, and the packed stands had started to breathe a little easier. Runs had not exactly been easy to come by but the fluency with which Tendulkar had reached 34 was encouraging. At the other end, it was business as usual for Dravid, his nine runs coming in a little over an hour and a half.

What transpired in those 40 minutes will probably never be explained satisfactorily. In fact, the match changed beyond recognition in the space of the first two overs after the break.

Dravid started the slide when he nicked a wide delivery from his counterpart to wicketkeeper Geraint Jones, and the celebrations that followed around the roaring Flintoff showed England knew they had breached the wall, Dravid being the standout Indian batsman with 309 runs in the series.

Tendulkar then offered a sharp bat-pad catch to Ian Bell at forward short leg off Shaun Udal, the 37-year-old offspinner at the other end, trying to work the ball away to leg but only managing to lob it off bat and pad towards the fielder.

And that, as they say, was that. As Yuvraj Singh watched in disbelief at one end, a procession began at the other. Following Tendulkar out, and back into the pavilion first was Virender Sehwag, who needed a runner but did not bother him as he fell for a 20-ball duck.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a foolish shot to Udal, lofting the ball towards long-off where the entertaining Monty Panesar never got hand to ball. Undeterred, Dhoni tried again two balls later and this time succeeded in finding his man, Panesar clutching the ball to his chest in a mixture of relief and elation.

Yuvraj slashed Flintoff into the slip cordon, and now it was a matter of time. Harbhajan Singh and Munaf Patel lasted a combined total of 12 minutes before being dismissed to trigger off frenzied partying out in the middle and in the stands where more England supporters than just the Barmy Army had massed. To thank them, Flintoff led the team around on a sedate celebratory lap.

For all the celebrations that had marked the start of this Test — Tendulkar’s record 132nd, Dravid’s 100th, et al — India will need to return to the drawing board ahead of the arduous seven-match one-day series that begins in Delhi in six days time. They showed great resilience in Pakistan, bouncing back from an even bigger mauling then, but there is something about this England team that suggests the shorter games will be just as hard-fought as the Tests were.