By IANS
Nottingham : Indian bowlers took full advantage of the conditions to reduce England to 169 for seven wickets on the rain-affected opening day of the second Test here Friday.
Left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan was the pick of the pacers as he took three wickets for 50 runs. He could have got at least one more but for the dropped catch by Sachin Tendulkar, who had earlier taken two off his Mumbai teammate's bowling.
At close, pacers Chris Tremlett was batting on 16 and Ryan Sidebottom was yet to open his account on a day when only 55 overs were possible because of rains and wet ground conditions.
Alastair Cook, who had an ordinary first Test at Lord's last week, was the top scorer of the day with 43 (111 balls, 6x4s). The left-hander was also involved in the day's only 50-plus partnership when he and Paul Collingwood (28) raised 54 for the fourth wicket.
After captain Rahul Dravid won a good toss, the Indian medium pacers struck regular blows to have England reeling at Trent Bridge.
Earlier, the match started late following rains and a soggy field. When the umpires were finally satisfied with the under foot conditions 35 over were deducted from a day's usual quota of 90.
Dravid won a good toss under heavy conditions that promised to help the pacers.
Cook and Andrew Staruss failed to give England a solid start. In the third over, Zaheer pitched one that seemed to have confused Strauss and he ended up giving a catch to Tendulkar at first slip. England: four for one.
Twenty runs later, captain Michael Vaughan (9) was also back in the dressing room with the Mumbai combination at work again. The Zaheer induced edge travelled again to Tendulkar who caught the ball slightly lower than earlier one.
First Test's lone century maker Kevin Pieterson (13) also failed to get going Friday. When the total was 47, left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh, who had an outstanding game in London, found his pads in front of the wickets as he tried to play on the leg side.
Then, Cook and Paul Collingwood brought some sanity into the innings. They checked the regular fall of wickets and added 54 important runs for the fourth wicket that steadied the ship.
It was then the turn of the third pacer, Sreesanth, to get into the wickets bracket. Just when Collingwood (28) was looking to gain ascendancy, the bubbly Kerala bowled a ball that Collingwood, who had a miserable first Test, could only chop onto his stumps. England: 101 for four.
Not to be left behind, Sourav Ganguly then trapped the best batsman of the day, Cook, with the addition of eight more to the total. He bowled one that came back into the batsman, and then went on to celebrate the wicket astonishment.
Towards the end of the day, leg-spinner Kumble also joined the wicket takers as he forced Matt Prior (11) to edge one to Dravid at first slip where the skipper took a good catch to his left.
At 154 for six, Tendulkar at first slip dropped Tremlett (4) off Zaheer. It was a straightforward chance but the man who had taken two catches earlier failed to hold on to the simple offering.
Although Zaheer would rue not getting Tremlett, who scored his first runs after bagging a 'pair' on his debut last week, the Mumbai bowler got a better wicket, that of Ian Bell (31, 54 balls, 3x4s), as he had him lbw with an inswinger.
Both teams retained their XIs that played in the drawn first Test in London last week.
SCOREBOARD
Second Test, Day 1, India vs. England, Trent Bridge, Nottingham
England (1st innings):
Andrew Staruss c Tendulkar b Khan 4
Alastair Cook lbw b Ganguly 43
Michael Vaughan c Tendulkar b Khan 9
Kevin Pietersen lbw b Singh 13
Paul Collingwood b Sreesanth 28
Ian Bell lbw b Khan 31
Matt Prior c Dravid b Kumble 11
Chris Tremlett batting 16
Ryan Sidebottom batting 0
Extras: (b 4, lb 7, nb 3) 14
Total: (for seven wickets in 55 overs) 169
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Strauss, 2.3 overs), 2-24 (Vaughan, 8.6), 3-47 (Pietersen, 14.4), 4-101 (Collingwood, 32.2), 5-109 (Cook, 35.5), 6-147 (Prior, 45.6), 7-157 (Bell, 50.3)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 16 4 50 3
Sreesanth 12 7 16 1
Rudra Pratap Singh 10 1 56 1 (2nb)
Sourav Ganguly 8 4 11 1
Anil Kumble 7 0 16 1 (1nb)
Sachin Tendulkar 2 0 9 0
Umpires: Simon Taufel (Australia) and Ian Howell (South Africa)
TV umpire: Nigel Llong (England)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)