India dismissed England for just 183 on the opening day of the first Test at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.
Jasprit Bumrah, who struck with the fifth ball of the match to remove Rory Burns for one of four ducks in the innings, took 4/46 in 20.4 overs, with fellow-paceman Mohammed Shami also bowling well for his 3/28 in 17 overs.
England captain Joe Root, who won the toss, top-scored with 64 and was the only batsman to pass 30, with Yorkshire teammate Jonny Bairstow making 29 on his Test return.
England lost six wickets for 22 runs slumping from 138/3 to 160/9.
Earlier, Root and Bairstow frustrated the Indian bowlers with solid Test-match batting in challenging conditions before Shami broke their 72-run stand by dismissing the latter to leave England at 138 for four at tea.
Tails up
India had its tail up early on in the second session when Shami had Dom Sibley caught at short mid-wicket in the third over post lunch. Shami made Sibley fall into a trap set for him with a full ball on his pads which the England opener flicked straight to K.L. Rahul, leaving the hosts at 66 for three.
Bairstow joined Root in the middle and they ended up batting the rest of the session.
While the Indian pacers kept asking questions with the ball constantly moving around, Root seemed to find answers more often that not. He played with soft hands and close to his body, and was quick to latch on to the loose balls.
His nine fours included a couple of delightful cover drives.
Bairstow also got into the act by driving Siraj past extra-cover before hitting him down the ground for successive fours.
Against the run of play, India got a timely breakthrough before they went back into the dressing room.
Grass cover
The Indian fast bowlers were up to the task on the opening morning, reducing England to 61 for two at lunch. With the sun beating down, Root opted to bat on a dry pitch with a decent covering of grass on top.
Bumrah, who was not at his best during the World Test Championship final, was back in his element as he trapped Burns in front with a sharp inswinger in the first over of the match after setting him up with three outswingers.
Bumrah bowled his heart out in his six-over spell beating the batsmen multiple times. Shami, who bowled seven overs first up, too troubled Zak Crawley (27 off 68) and Dom Sibley on a number of occasions but as it often happens with him in England, the outside edge was elusive.
The pitch had enough for the pacers in the first hour of play with the ball swinging and seaming around.
Crawley, who averages little over 10 this year, batted well before being dismissed by Siraj, who was picked ahead of Ishant Sharma.
After India wasted one review for a caught behind in the same over, Siraj finally induced an inside edge from Crawley’s bat and this time skipper Virat Kohli reviewed it successfully.
With India going in with four pacers, Shardul Thakur came into the side but the one spinner picked was Ravindra Jadeja, who didn’t bowl in the first session. Dropping premier spinner R. Ashwin was a big call as he had been braced up for the series opener with his preparation including a county game.
Thakur, picked for his natural ability to swing the ball besides his lower-order batting, looked in good rhythm in the five overs he bowled.
Sibley survived a close lbw shot off Bumrah at the stroke of lunch but Kohli resisted the temptation for another review and rightly so.
