Munaf Patel, as if to prove in his very first Test that he bowls even better when the ball gets older, came up with an inspired spell. He started the proceedings in the morning with Anil Kumble and immediately struck, not once or twice, but thrice to dent English plans of staging fight back. Geraint Jones (5) hit him through covers, but two balls later found his bails dislodged to a ball that came in, hit his edge and rolled back. L Plunkett (1), the No 8, is said to possess a decent batting record in first class cricket. But Munaf wasn't willing to let him show his prowess at the big stage. The ball to which he fell was fuller, he tried to play it from the crease only to be beaten by the prodigous swing in the air and was plumb in front. Plunkett must have heard of the Burewala Express who used to take so many wickets in English conditions with a smiliar kind of ball. He got the taste of it in Mohali through someone who might well be called the Bharuch Express in future. Next to go was Matthew Hoggard (4), the ball hit his front back before knocking the off stump. Not that Munaf only troubled the tail. Andrew Flintoff, who was batting with calm, was squared up by one that came in from a length and went past between his bat and pad to Dhoni.

Teams:

India: Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla.

England: Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, G Jones, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, L Plunkett, Monty Panesar.