Centurion Andrew Hodd and rain thwarted India's ambitions of starting their England tour with a win as the visitors' four-day engagement against Sussex took an explicit path to a tame draw after a rain-hit third day here on Monday.

Resuming at 146 for five, Sussex declared their first innings closed at 300 for six in reply to the Indians’ 388 for seven declared. In their second innings, India had stumbled to 21 for two at close in the remaining 10 overs for an overall lead of 109 runs.

India again lost opener Wasim Jaffer early in the innings, trapped leg before by Jason Lewry, and a fwe minutes before stumps, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was caught at short-leg, also off Lewry. Dinesh Kaarthick and Yuvraj Singh saw them through to stumps without further embarrassment.

Stubborn stand
The Indian bowlers might have envisaged an easy ride after dismissing half the Sussex line-up on Sunday, but their aspirations were undone by an adhesive Hodd and Robin Martin-Jenkins. The duo milked 125 runs during a stubborn sixth-wicket alliance to frustrate the Indians.

Hodd, resuming on 21, looked in good touch from the beginning and faced all the Indian bowlers with confidence. However, he had to survive a testing spell from Rudra Pratap Singh in the first half-hour, the left-arm paceman banging it in short and extracting awkward bounce that troubled the Sussex wicketkeeper-batsman. Hodd also suffered a hit on his front arm while trying to block a rising delivery from the Uttar Pradesh bowler, but much to the relief of the Sussex camp, he carried on bravely to complete a well-deserved hundred.

He had received a let off when wicket-keeper Dhoni dropped him on six off S Sreesanth. India paid dearly for that mistake as Hodd pitched tent in the middle to deny any success to the opposition in the pre-tea session.

Once he settled down, Hodd played some exquisite shots all over the park and his approach surprised the Indian bowlers. The most impressive part of his batting was the way he faced Anil Kumble. The leg-spinner tried every trick in his arsenal. It was fascinating to see a rookie battling it out with a veteran of many battles. But on this day, it was the turn of the less experienced to come out on top.

Rain delays start
Rain came down heavily about 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the day's proceedings and robbed a little over four hours of play. Rain delayed the umpires' inspection till 2.45 pm local time, and with sun beating down in all its splendour, they decided to start play at 3.15 pm local time.

Skipper Rahul Dravid did not take the field for a second consecutive day due to a knee sprain. The niggle is no more than minor in nature, but Dravid sat out as a precautionary measure.

INDIANS (I Innings): 388/7 decl

SUSSEX (I Innings, O/n: 146/5): Chris Nash c Kaarthick b Bose 28 (72b, 6x4), Richard Montgomerie c Kaarthick b Sreesanth 18 (35b, 2x4), Michael Yardy c Laxman b Kumble 53 (83b, 8x4), Carl Hopkinson lbw RP Singh 5 (9b), Michael Thornly b Kumble 2 (27b), Andrew Hodd (not out) 106 (165b, 10x4), Robin Martin-Jenkins st Dhoni b Kumble 42 (106b, 4x3), Oley Rayner (not out) 19 (18b, 3x4). Extras (B-7, LB-7, W-9, NB-4) 27. Total (for 6 wkts decl, 85.1 overs) 300.

Fall of wickets: 1-30 (Montgomerie), 2-66 (Nash), 3-75 (Hopkinson), 4-105 (Thornely), 5-144 (Yardy), 6-269 (Jenkins).

Bowling: RP Singh 18-4-66-1 (w-3), S Sreesanth 20.1-7-52-1 (w-1), R Bose 18-4-60-1 (w-1), Kumble 22-3-66-3 (nb-2), Yuvraj 7-0-42-0.

INDIANS (II Innings): Dinesh Kaarthick (batting) 4 (32b), Wasim Jaffer lbw Lewry 4 (10b, 1x4), Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Nash b Lewry 11 (11b, 2x4), Yuvraj Singh (batting) 2 (7b). Total (for 2 wkts, 10 overs) 21.
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Jaffer), 2-19 (Dhoni).

Bowling: Jason Lewry 5-1-18-2, James Kirtley 5-4-3-0.