England make promising start

England's openers shared an unbroken 63-run stand on the first morning after captain Kevin Pietersen won the toss on a wicket expected to favour the side batting first, which was underlined by South Africa scoring 540 during the last Test here in March in the first innings.

Knowing that first-innings runs would be vital to England's chances of setting the tone for the match, the pair were cautious during the early stages.

Facing India's new-ball pair, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, they were happy to play a patient game with Strauss claiming England's first boundary of the day in the seventh over when he clipped Zaheer down to fine leg for four.

Facing an Indian side still bristling with confidence following their recent series victory over Australia, England chose to field two spinners with Graeme Swann handed his Test debut as a replacement for the injured Stuart Broad, while Matt Prior took over behind the stumps from Tim Ambrose.

India also chose two spinners with Harbhajan Singh partnered by inexperienced leg-spinner Amit Mishra, giving them just two specialist seamers in Zaheer and Sharma.

They were given the new ball but struggled to make much of an impact on a slow-looking pitch, although Sharma beat Cook in the fourth over with a full-length delivery which flew past his outside edge and off-stump. But that was a rare triumph for the bowlers and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to try a different mode of attack when he called upon Harbhajan's left-arm spin after just 37 minutes play.

Cook claimed his first boundary in the 10th over of the morning, a front foot drive through extra cover off Sharma for four, as India's attack struggled to make an impact.

Emerging leg-spinner Mishra was introduced into the attack after 17 overs, but struggled to find the right line and length in his first over with Strauss sweeping him for two boundaries.

Both sides were wearing black armbands out of respect for the 181 victims of the Mumbai terrorist attacks while a minute's silence was observed before the start of play.