India struck vital blows at regular intervals to gain early advantage in the first Test against a depleted England who paid a heavy price for the lack of application by their top batsmen.
The visitors proved that that they were no pushovers in sub-continental conditions but most of the batsmen were guilty of throwing away their wickets after gettingstarts which left them at a shaky 246 for seven at close on the opening day.
Debutant Alastair Cook (60) and Paul Collingwood (53 batting) hit half centuries but England's decision to bat first on a good batting track at the VCA stadium did not fetch them the desired results.
Paceman S Sreesanth made a memorable debut by snapping up two wickets while Irfan Pathan claimed three wickets to wreck the English batting line-up which was badly hit by the absence of established players like captain Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick.
Collingwood played sensibly to hold one end up and had Matthew Hoggard for company at stumps on a day which saw runs come at a fairly slow pace.