Asked to bat first on a greenish pitch under a thick cloud cover, Indian batsmen continued to be a slave to swing bowling as England pacers wreaked havoc on the opening day of the fifth and final Test at The Oval on Friday.
Nine Indian batsmen were back in the hut with just 90 runs on the board before captain MS Dhoni, who held the innings together with a valiant 82 and Ishant Sharma, back in the side at Pankaj Singh's expense, put up stiff resistance for the last wicket.
The fact that the duo's 58-run partnership was the only highlight of the Indian innings was a commentary on the sorry state of affairs in a side where potential has rarely been translated into performance.
England started with a steady partnership between Alastair Cook and Sam Robson, reaching 62 without loss at stumps.
The English skipper survived a close call for LBW off the bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar early in the innings. The ball seemed to be hitting the stumps. After that, England hardly looked in any trouble and coasted away to a healthy start.
Earlier, when Varun Aaron offered Chris Woakes a timid return catch to depart, India were in danger of being bowled out for less than 100. And they narrowly escaped the ignominy only because Ian Bell grassed a regulation catch at second slip after Chris Jordan had induced a nick from Ishant's bat when the total was 95.
It was entirely to Dhoni's credit that he managed to shield Ishant and reel off boundaries to get the partnership going. His eighth boundary - a slash off Jordan - brought up the 100 of the innings and the Indian captain signalled his intention with a stunning bottom-handed push-drive over long-off in the same over.
It was, however, too good to last and when Dhoni pulled Stuart Broad down Woakes' throat at fine leg, it signalled the end of yet another sordid tale in Indian batting.
Earlier, the gloomy atmosphere match the mood in the Indian dressing room from where there was steady movement to the middle and back all day. It started in the very first over of the morning with senior pro Gautam Gambhir leading the procession.
Once again it was the peerless James Anderson, who put the skids under the Indian innings.
Gambhir could not take his bat away from one that bounced and swung away from him. Broad squeezed one through the narrow gate in Cheteshwar Pujara's defence, the ball deflecting off his pad and arm guard onto the stumps.
Virat Kohli's slight error of judgment cost him dearly. Jordan got one to nip one back into the batsman who offered no stroke.
The one-way traffic continued when Ajinkya Rahane gave Jordan a simple return catch in an action replay of his second-inning dismissal at Old Trafford. And when Murali Vijay edged Woakes to Joe Root at third slip after playing and missing for an hour, India slipped to 36 for five.
Stuart Binny, a late and surprise inclusion in the line-up in place of Ravindra Jadeja, survived till lunch before becoming Anderson's second victim, while the law of averages caught up with Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. England went into the match unchanged.
NUMBERS GAME
12: Number of fifties registered by Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni against England -a record for most half-centuries by any batsman against an opponent without recording a Test century. Dhoni has posted eight fifties in Tests in England between 2007 and 2014, emulating Monty Noble's feat of eight fifties for Australia in England between 1899 and 1909. Both share a record for most fifties by any batsman without registering a century in Tests in England. Friday's effort was his fourth 50 of the series.
6: Number of instances when India have lost the first five wickets for less than 40 runs in a Test innings in England - their worst performance was losing five wickets for six runs in the first innings at The Oval in 1952. At Old Trafford, in the previous Test, they were 62 for 5 in the first innings after being 8 for 4.
-RAJESH KUMAR
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