India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s defiance prevented total embarrassment against England as wickets tumbled around him on the first day of the fifth Test at The Oval on Friday.
At tea, the tourists were 9-125 with Dhoni 65 not out — 52 per cent of his side’s runs — and last man Ishant Sharma on two.
As in their innings and 54-run defeat in the fourth Test at Old Trafford that left then 2-1 down in the five-match series, India lost five wickets before lunch with their top order lacking the technique or the application to cope with deliveries that swung and seamed off the pitch.
Only Murali Vijay (18) and Ravichandran Ashwin (13) had so far joined Dhoni in double figures.
The most experienced member of India’s side, Dhoni top-scored with 71 in India’s first innings 152 in Manchester.
England captain Alastair Cook decided to probe India’s fragile batting after winning the toss on a green-tinged pitch in overcast conditions that promised to aid swing movement.
And he was rewarded with a wicket off just the fourth ball of the day.
James Anderson, who started this match seven wickets shy of Ian Botham’s England record of 383 Test wickets, had opener Gautam Gambhir, trying to withdraw his bat, caught behind for a golden duck by wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.
Stuart Broad, playing despite suffering a broken nose while batting in Manchester, then dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara (four) when the ball deflected off his pad onto his arm and then hit the stumps.
Virat Kohli’s miserable series continued when, playing no stroke, he was lbw to first change Chris Jordan for six and a lowly series average of 12.66.
Jordan then caught and bowled Ajinkya Rahane for the first duck of his Test career.
Vijay survived for more than 90 minutes but he fell when edging Chris Woakes, like Jordan, a seam-bowling all-rounder, to Joe Root at fourth slip.
That left India 5-36 inside 19 overs, an even worse collapse than on the first day at Old Trafford where, after Dhoni won the toss, they were reduced to 5-62 inside 24 overs.
At lunch, they were 5-43 with Dhoni six not out.
That soon became 6-44 when recalled all-rounder Stuart Binny edged a full length Anderson delivery that swung late to Cook at first slip.
Ashwin was then well caught low down by Root at fourth slip off Woakes while Buttler, moving well to his right, held a two-handed catch after Bhuvneshwar Kumar chased a wide delivery from Jordan to have India 8-79.
