London, September 5:

India beat England by two wickets to win the sixth one-day international at the Oval here today and so level the seven-match series 3-3.

England’s 316-6, built around Owais Shah’s unbeaten 107 not out and capped by 30 off the final over from Dimitri Mascarenhas (36), had seemed commanding.

But Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly added 150 for the first wicket, setting up an enthralling finish. Ganguly went for 53, slapping Stuart Broad to Kevin Pietersen, and England were given hope as Paul Collingwood pulled off a superb catch to remove Tendulkar (94) off Monty Panesar.

That hope was enhanced when Yuvraj Singh (18) and Rahul Dravid (4) fell cheaply. Gautam Gambhir followed for 47, but MS Dhoni (35) and Robin Uthappa tipped the balance back towards India. Dhoni was bowled by Broad off the final ball of the 48th over to leave India needing 23 from the final 12 balls.

That became 10 off the final over after Agit Agarkar (1) was run out off the final ball of the 49th. Zaheer Khan was run out without facing a ball, but Uthappa (47 not out) saw India home with two balls to spare.

Shah’s century was his first in one-day international cricket. Pietersen (53) scored his first half-century of the series, while Luke Wright blasted 50 off 38 balls on his debut. England had seemed in trouble at 137-5 when Pietersen became the second of three run-outs. The final game of the series is at Lord’s on Saturday.