England collapse to 238 all out

Indian bowlers struck back to stop England's early merrymaking on the opening day of the first test match, bowling them all out for 238. England had previously stood at 107 for one.

Skipper Nasser Hussain fulfilled the cherished dream of his father, Joe, to captain England in a test match in India. But he fell at 85, just 15 runs short of an emotional century, when he tapped an innocuous delivery from leg–spinner Anil Kumble to Vangipurappu Laxman at silly point.

Playing a skipper's knock, Hussain shared a 125–run second–wicket partnership with his vice–captain Marcus Trescothick to launch England's challenge following the fall of opener Mark Butcher on the fourth ball of the morning.

Hussain struck 13 boundaries and lifted off–spinner Harbhajan Singh for a mighty six over long–off before becoming Kumble's first victim of the test.

Trescothick shrugged off his initial circumspect approach with an expanded range of strokes. Two successive cover drives to the fence gave the Indians a glimpse of things to come after he took 29 minutes to get off the mark.

He went into the top gear against Kumble after the lone slip fielder, Rahul Dravid, failed to catch an edged shot and the ball sprinted to the ropes.

He sent the Indian fielders scampering with an exquisite off-driven boundary, followed by an on-driven boundary.

Later, however, the England batsmen suffered one of their trademark defeats, losing their last five wickets for just 28 runs.

India offered debut caps to Yohannan, Siddiqui and Bangar, while off–spinner Richard Dawson and wicketkeeper James Foster made their test debut for England.