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Pacer Matthew Hoggard [Images] said his haul of five wickets for 57 runs, which reduced India to 322 for 9 at the end of day three in the first Test in Nagpur, was one of his best spells.

"I consistently bowled in the right areas and I got just rewards for it," Hoggard said at the end of the day's play, on Friday.

Even though Mohammad Kaif (91) and Anil Kumble [Images] (58) rescued India with a 128-run partnership for the eighth wicket, Hoggard said England [Images] are content with the situation.

"If we were told at the start of the day that India would be nine wickets down and 70 runs behind we would have taken that," he said.

This is the sixth time that the 29-year-old has taken five or more wickets in an innings, and whenever he performed the feat England emerged victorious.

"It's another day of hard work for us tomorrow. Another wicket to get and then we got to bat extremely well with a positive frame of mind. We need to assess at each interval where we are," he said.

Hoggard also said that this bowling performance compared with his match-winning figures of 12 for 205 against South Africa at Johannesburg in January 2005.

"It was much easier in Johannesburg as the wicket was doing a bit. Here it was a flat track and I was consistent, just giving away 57 runs in 30 overs. It is one of the best spells I have bowled," the England pacer said.

He also gave credit to debutant spinner Monty Panesar [Images], who took the important wickets of Sachin Tendulkar [Images] and Kaif to end the day with two wickets for 72 runs in 41.4 overs.

"Anybody who gets the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar as his first Test wicket will feel really special. The way he bowled was really great. He did everything that we asked of him.

"He bowled like he has bowled in Test cricket for the last 10 years. It was very nice that he was rewarded with that wicket (Mohammad Kaif) in the last over," Hoggard said.

The pacer was also quick to point out that the overnight rain didn't affect the pitch at all.

"It's a flat track and reverse swing is the key. The wicket is not doing a great deal and the runs are also hard to score," he said.

England's first target tomorrow, day 4, is getting the final wicket early and then amassing some quick runs and attacking the Indians on the final day.