India 78; Hameed 60*, Burns 52*, England 120/0

James Anderson cast a swing-bowling spell over India’s top order from which they couldn’t recover

England 120 for 0 (Hameed 60*, Burns 52*) lead India 78 (Rohit 19, Anderson 3-6, Overton 3-14) by 42 runs

Although Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, Sam Curran, and the two England openers, imposed themselves at various points in the day, it was the maestro, Anderson, who set the tone. A dusting of grey hairs at his temple, and yet evermore skilful, he laid traps for KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara, which both batters could not resist. He bowled a string of inswingers at Rahul, all slightly short of a length, to get the batter playing back slightly, defending balls in front of his stumps. Then he snuck in a full delivery outside off, which seamed slightly away off the seam, to take Rahul’s edge as he reached for it. A similar ploy worked for Pujara too. Although Pujara’s was a poke rather than a big drive, the dismissal – edging an awayseamer to the wicketkeeper – was the same.

For Kohli, Anderson plugged away in the channel, and then delivered a wobble-seam ball that pitched just outside off and moved away – Kohli venturing a big drive only to also be caught by Jos Buttler. He was out for 7 off 17, leaving India reeling while Rohit was attempting his best cave hermit impression – leaving, blocking, and dead-batting.

Rohit and Rahane then threatened to right India’s innings, batting out 15 overs together and putting on 35, but Rahane edging Robinson behind on the penultimate ball before lunch ended what turned out to be India’s best partnership by far.

After lunch, India careened into a chasm. Pant was out to Robinson – again nicking behind (this was Buttler’s fifth catch out of five). A few overs later, Rohit’s patience ran out and he tried to pull a short ball from Overton over the leg side, but managed only to bunt it to a catching mid-on. Next ball, Mohammed Shami was squared up, and he sent a catch to third slip.

The following over, bowled by Curran, brought another double strike – Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah both out lbw, both pretty plumb. India lost four wickets while the score was 67, and were all out soon after, having slipped from 56 for 3.

Perhaps India felt their bowlers would be able to replicate England’s success in such conditions, particularly after their heroics on the final day at Lord’s, but they began with far less discipline than the England attack had shown. Ishant Sharma, who opened the bowling ahead of Mohammed Siraj and Shami, was especially wayward, frequently straying into the batters’ pads, and rarely finding movement on a line outside off stump. Bumrah was much better, and even drew an edge at one point that fell short, but was not especially menacing either.

Hameed and Burns did not have to be particularly patient through the early overs, getting frequent enough deliveries that could be scored off, but were nevertheless solid when the good balls came as well. They were not beaten as often as India’s batters were with the new ball. And they were more confident with their scoring strokes. Hameed was particularly severe on errors of line, dusting off an excellent cut shot repeatedly.

Later, Burns hit the most memorable shot, however, thumping Siraj over deep square leg for the day’s only six. Hameed got to his half-century with an edge through the outstretched hand of Rohit at second slip – the fielder getting some flesh to the tough chance, but unable to hold on. Burns, got to the milestone in the penultimate over of the day, punching the 123rd ball he faced through mid-on.

Such was England’s dominance on day one, India will probably need a dramatic session or several to get themselves back into the match.