Despite England’s wayward day, however, India were unable to assert their dominance when they are in need of a win to avoid a series defeat.
England bowled 20% of their deliveries down the leg side and attacked the stumps with just 12% – the second-lowest for any innings in the series. But, at the same time, they drew 24% false shots from India, the highest for day one throughout this series.
But considering they were faced with tricky batting conditions, Tongue’s erratic spell at one end and Atkinson’s economic efforts at the other, perhaps it is of little surprise that India’s minds were somewhat scrambled.
“Tongue made India do things they don’t want to do,” former England batter Sir Alastair Cook told BBC Test Match Special.
“He has bowled a couple of absolute jaffas, but liquorice all sorts is what we used to call them when you’re bowling like that. When you face someone who’s so inconsistent, you feel you’ve got to be scoring.
“You think there’s plenty of opportunities to score, but because it could be anywhere it really upsets your rhythm. It’s that mental thing, knowing he’s not bowling well so I should be going after him and he drags you into shots.”
India’s stubborn pair of Karun Nair and Washington Sundar led them out of a pickle from 153-6, playing with assured control that the rest of the top order had been lacking.
It was a curious day with neither side able to seize momentum for significant periods, but there is a sense that England missed their opportunity considering the conditions and India’s loose dismissals.
“England, if they’re being brutally honest with themselves – on a pitch that they’ve bowled on today with 8mm of grass – there’s been enough seam movement and swing that they would’ve fancied bowling India out today,” Vaughan added.
“They’ll be thinking, if two of us bowled like Gus Atkinson then we’d have bowled them out.”