Strauss stars before India hit back

Andrew Strauss hit a defiant century to help England make a solid start to the opening Test before India demonstrated their quality with a four-wicket fightback in the final session.

The 31-year-old left-hander overcame a disrupted preparation for the Test series by hitting his 13th Test century and helped forge a 118-run opening stand with Alastair Cook after England won the toss and batted first at the Chepauk Stadium.

But after making such a promising start, England failed to build on it with India showing the skills which helped beat Australia last month by claiming four late wickets to restrict the tourists to 229 for five by the close of the first day.

Strauss' innings spanned nearly six hours, included 15 boundaries, and was a triumph of determination over adversity after he was denied any meaningful match practice in the build-up by the tourists' decision to return home in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai.

He entered today's opening Test having only had three innings for Middlesex during the Stanford Series since the end of last summer, but played a full part in a key opening stand.

Both captains had stated prior to the match they would bat given the choice on a wicket expected to deteriorate and Kevin Pietersen gave the tourists a huge lift by calling correctly at the toss.

It was the perfect boost for England following the distractions of being asked to consider safety and security reports in the build-up with Strauss and Cook responding to the good fortune superbly.

The pitch offered so little encouragement to India's seamers that captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni turned to the left-arm spin of Harbhajan Singh after just 37 minutes play without providing any greater threat to England's opening stand.

But just three overs after reaching his half-century, Cook's hopes of claiming a hundred ended when he attempted a slog-sweep against Harbhajan, a shot which had proved very successful for both openers during their stand spanning 40 overs.

Cook mis-timed the shot on this occasion and looped the ball high in the air for Zaheer Khan to collect the catch at mid-on for 52 - the 15th time in his Test career he had passed 50 without going on to score a century.

Ian Bell kept Strauss company for 50 minutes until the tea interval, but became the first to perish during a stunning spell of 6-3-12-2 from Zaheer, walking across his stumps to fall lbw to the second ball after the interval.

Strauss survived several close shaves to complete his century seven overs after tea, guiding Zaheer to the third man boundary before punching the air with delight at reaching the milestone.

His joy was short-lived, however, with Pietersen giving a return catch in Zaheer's next over after he mis-timed an attempted pull high in the air.
But Paul Collingwood had perhaps the most reason to feel aggrieved after being wrongly given out by umpire Billy Bowden for a catch at short leg off Harbhajan which clearly came off his pad.
Only seven overs before the close, Strauss' innings was halted by emerging leg-spinner Amit Mishra when he offered a return catch to a flighted delivery.

Nightwatchman Jimmy Anderson survived 25 minutes until the close but England ended the day knowing India's fightback had denied them the chance to dominate the opening day.