Day 4 Close Indians 516 and 327 for 6 (Sehwag 142, Bangar 74, Laxman 42, Illot 4-67) drew with Essex 279 and 186 for 3 (Clinton 53) India preferred more batting practice to trying to force a win as their tour match against Essex at Chelmsford petered out into a draw. India could have declared overnight with a lead of 468 runs, but chose to bat on for 28 overs in the morning before setting Essex a purely academic target of 565. Given that it was one of the hottest days of the year, Sourav Ganguly's reluctance to risk spending all day in the field was understandable.

If India hoped that Essex would roll over against Harbhajan Singh for a second time, then they were disappointed. Harbhajan made the breakthrough when he had opener James Middlebrook caught by Shiv Sunder Das for 24, and then Andy Flower retired hurt for 23. But Richard Clinton stroked six fours on his way to 53 and Rav Bopara remained unbeaten on 47 to secure the draw.

India's decision to bat on gave Sanjay Bangar a golden opportunity to complete his hundred, but that dream was dashed when Mark Ilott had him leg-before after he had added just one to his overnight 73. Four balls later Ilott struck again, removing Wasim Jaffer leg-before for 4.

VVS Laxman played a brief cameo of 42 – which included five fours and a six - before scooping a return catch to slow left-armer Tim Phillips for 42 and then Ilott sent Ganguly packing, caught and bowled for 6, to leave India 296 for 6.

Harbhajan Singh restored the world order with 29 off just 21 balls before Ganguly decided enough was enough and set Essex their token target.

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