He could have been auditioning for the Indian Premier League. On a day when The Times of India reported that a portion of the Twenty20 competition that has taken the country by storm will be played in England in future - something not denied by the ECB - Kevin Pietersen reminded everyone that there is no more entertaining or exciting a player in the world today, scoring a brilliant, instinctive hundred, the first by an England captain in India since Tony Greig 31 years ago.

There are many similarities between Pietersen and Greig, not least of which is an attitude to cricket, and life in general, that is incurably optimistic. One-nil down in the series, a long way behind in the game, two early wickets having fallen, but what the hell: rather than play in backs-to-the-wall, one might say English, fashion, Pietersen took the attack to India so that for a long time it was not clear which team were in the ascendancy. For most of an absorbing day, England scored at more than four runs an over.

But while it is much better for a captain to be optimistic than pessimistic, occasionally it pays for a batsman to bear in mind the dictum that he should always add, mentally, two wickets to the score, to remind him how quickly situations can change.

Shortly after Pietersen had fallen leg-before to Harbhajan Singh from round the wicket, a fair decision that he did not much care for, Andrew Flintoff was snapped up at short leg and what had looked a position of relative security now has danger stamped all over it. After the day's play, the captain admitted that a draw was the best his team could hope for.

Like Pietersen, Flintoff was unhappy with his dismissal, although he could have no complaints about the inside edge or the catch, a brilliant diving effort by Gautam Gambhir. No, the umpires had already checked their light meters by the time Amit Mishra came in to bowl the 73rd, and last, over of the day. It was a little before 5, the latest to which the umpires had allowed play to continue in this match, and Flintoff clearly thought that he should have already been sitting in the dressing-room, a lager cooling his lips, after a good day's work. His dismissal to what turned out to be the last ball of the day would have soured the taste and afterwards Pietersen was moved to wonder how the light could change in such a short space of time.

Flintoff had played beautifully until his downfall. He struck the ball crisply at the start, especially down the ground, which is always a good sign, and he defended easily, bat in front of pad to negate the close catchers. And when the field spread he settled down to play in mature fashion, recognising that there was no need to try to compete with Pietersen for the day's bragging rights.

Heavy fog had delayed the start by 90 minutes and when play did get under way, it seemed that it had been transplanted into the England batsmen's heads. To the third ball of the day, Andrew Strauss moved too far across his crease, his front foot planted on the line of a full, swinging delivery from Zaheer Khan, so that his bat could not get at the ball. Like Virender Sehwag before him, he found that cricket is a capricious companion.

Six balls later, Ian Bell was heading back to the pavilion with the puzzled look of a little boy who was finding life just a little unfair. Playing a loose drive at Ishant Sharma, he did so at a ball that ducked in sharply and late and flattened his middle stump. He may yet have one more opportunity, but this has been a poor tour for him and with the clamour for Owais Shah growing and Michael Vaughan biding his time, he will have a nervous new year before the tour party for the Caribbean is announced.

Now Mahendra Singh Dhoni played his trump card, a move that highlighted his gambler's instinct. The score was one for two, both new-ball bowlers had taken a wicket, Pietersen had only faced three balls and his team were all over England like a cheap suit. So what did Dhoni do? He took Zaheer off after one over and threw the new ball to Yuvraj Singh. This was the decision of the man who enjoys walking the high wire; something that can make you look very clever but is also fraught with danger.

It was clever because Yuvraj has given Pietersen some difficulty with his innocuous left-arm non-spinners and had dismissed him in the first Test match in Madras (Chennai). It was an insult that Dhoni knew Pietersen could not ignore. Accordingly, Pietersen, who had fairly sprinted out to the crease on Bell's dismissal, hacked and heaved at Yuvraj's first over and almost lofted him to short extra cover. The manner in which Pietersen, after the day's play, described Yuvraj as a “pie thrower” who bowled “left-arm filth” suggested that Dhoni has found the man to get under his opposite number's skin.

It was a dangerous move, though, because insulting players such as Pietersen can come back to haunt you and later in the day, when he had three figures to his name, it was Pietersen who was doing the teasing. From wherever Dhoni moved his fielders, he hit the ball. Like elephants, great players have long memories.

And, once again, Pietersen played strokes that only those blessed with the rarest of talents can play. The quicker bowlers were driven thunderously through an arc between mid-on and mid-wicket but it was his use of the sweep shot to the spinners that underpinned his dominance. There were orthodox sweeps, fine sweeps, paddle sweeps, reverse sweeps and, glory be, the switch-hit, one of which he smashed long and hard into the crowd for six. At times he stood taunting the bowlers, swishing his bat this way and that, as if to advertise the number of sweeping options at his disposal.

This was magnificent batting to adorn a splendid day: a Pietersen hundred and Australia unable to defend 413. What more can a man ask for?

India: First innings (Friday 179-1)
G Gambhir c Cook b Swann 179
R Dravid c Panesar b Swann 136
S R Tendulkar lbw b Swann 11
V V S Laxman lbw b Flintoff 0
Yuvraj Singh c Prior b Panesar 27
*†M S Dhoni c sub b Anderson 29
Harbhajan Singh c Swann b Panesar 24
Z Khan b Flintoff 7
A Mishra b Flintoff 23
I Sharma not out 1
Extras (b 5, lb 5, nb 6) 16
Total (158.2 overs) 453

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-320, 3-329, 4-337, 5-339, 6-379, 7-418, 8-418, 9-446.

Bowling:
Anderson 32-5-84-1
Broad 26-9-84-1
Flintoff 30.2-10-54-3
Panesar 23-2-89-2
Swann 45-11-122-3
Collingwood 2-0-10-0.

England: First innings
A J Strauss lbw b Zaheer 0
A N Cook lbw b Zaheer 50
I R Bell b Ishant 1
*K P Pietersen lbw b Harbhajan 144
P D Collingwood c Dhoni b Mishra 11
A Flintoff c Gambhir b Mishra 62
J M Anderson not out 1
Extras (b 1, lb 6, w 1, nb 5) 13
Total (6 wkts, 73 overs) 282

M J Prior, G P Swann, S C J Broad and M S Panesar to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-1, 3-104, 4-131, 5-280, 6-282.

Bowling:
Zaheer 18-2-71-2
Ishant 12-0-55-1
Yuvraj 6-1-20-0
Harbhajan 15-2-56-1
Mishra 22-0-73-2.

Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and D J Harper (Australia).