Ben Stokes could only smile and shrug in resignation after falling victim to as close to an unplayable ball as it is possible to imagine.
It needed something special to end another invaluable contribution from the England captain and Jasprit Bumrah provided it, taking the top of Stokes middle stump with a delivery akin to a fast leg-break, on an all-action first day of this highly anticipated series.
How England needed the new slimline Stokes, moving encouragingly freely after his knee operation, to stand up here and how the captain responded to lift his side to a score which at least appeared to keep them in the Hyderabad hunt.
But it was an effort put into sharp context when India set off more like Bazballers than England in their reply, new opener Yashasvi Jaiswal providing a brutal introduction to Test cricket for the Lancashire slow left-armer Tom Hartley.
Hartley was handed the new ball on debut by Stokes in this near seamerless England side but Jaiswal showed his intentions by hitting his first ball in Test cricket for six, repeating the punishment off his fifth and smashing him to all corners of the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium.
Yashasvi Jaiswal starred for the hosts with the bat on a first day that ended with the hosts firmly on top
He sent debutant Tom Hartley’s first ball for six in an impressive innings at the top of the order
An 88-ball 70 from Ben Stokes was encouraging for the visitors as the captain looked to lift his side to a more respectable score
By the close India had raced along to 119 for one, just 127 behind, with Jasiwal unbeaten on 76 and England were badly in need of wickets on the second morning to stop this first Test becoming a reminder of the bruising 3-1 series defeat in 2021.
Bumrah may have provided the ball of the day to bowl Stokes for 70 and end the England innings on 246 but, as expected, it was spin that dominated on a pitch that provided sharp turn from the moment Ravindra Jadeja came on for the ninth over.
England knew what was coming, as they demonstrated by naming in effect four spinners including Joe Root to join Mark Wood in one of the boldest Bazball moves yet.
The trouble came in trying to repel the masterful Indian slow bowlers in Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel on a surface literally made for them.
England did not exactly do badly in posting a score better than all but one of their eight attempts on similarly spinning pitches the last time they were here three years ago.
But, other than Stokes, too many of their batsmen got out after doing much of the hard work in establishing themselves and as a consequence they fell at least 40 short of where they would have wanted to be when Stokes won an important toss.
It all started well enough when Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett took 41 off the first eight overs, with little alarm and with the customary positivity of an England team playing their first Test since the Stuart Broad-inspired Ashes concluding drama at the Oval.
But everything changed the moment Jadeja and Ashwin came together and combined to take three wickets between them in the next eight overs for just 20, all three falling for five runs in 20 balls, as familiar English failings in India came to the fore.
Stokes fell to a near unplayable delivery from the masterful Jasprit Bumrah to end England’s innings
Zak Crawley (left) and Ben Duckett (right) had started well for England in the first eight overs
The moment Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin came together proved a turning point, taking the next three between them in quick succession
Ollie Pope made a short-lived, frenetic return of Test cricket after a long injury lay off, falling for one
Duckett was perhaps unlucky to narrowly fall lbw to his tormentor from his visit here in 2016 in Ashwin – maybe he was unwise to attempt a rare conventional forward defensive stroke – but Ollie Pope was concerning in making a short-lived frenetic comeback after serious injury of his own and Crawley drove loosely to mid-off.
It took the Yorkshiremen in Root and Jonny Bairstow to stem the tide in a stand of 61 for the fourth wicket only ended when Bairstow, back at No 5 in the absence of Harry Brook, received another near unplayable delivery to be bowled top of off-stump by Patel.
Much will depend on Root if England are to have any hope in this series and he may have received a stroke of luck on nought here when inconclusive technological evidence had him getting a feather on a ball that would otherwise have trapped him lbw.
But after overtaking Sachin Tendulkar to become the leading runscorer in all Anglo-India Tests, a considerable feat, Root rather sloppily top edged a sweep off Jadeja and with him went England’s last realistic hope of a commanding score.
It would have been an awful lot worse for England had Stokes not proved his readiness for this series with a strict fitness regime after surgery on that chronic left knee that has seen him shed close to a stone and a half in weight.
The England captain batted responsibly but with bursts of class and power, not least when he smashed Jadeja for three fours in an over and then hit the same bowler for successive sixes, the first of which brought up his half century.
By the time Stokes had finished, Jadeja had gone for almost five an over but the India spin trio had taken eight wickets between them and no England batsman had offered his captain anything like the necessary support.
Ben Foakes pushed with hard hands at Patel on his return to the side and Rehan Ahmed fell to a Bumrah cutter before Hartley and Mark Wood at least put up some resistance until the master Bumrah had the final word.
There was much conjecture about the make-up of England’s opening attack but even though Stokes had said he was considering Root to bowl at Jaiswal it was Hartley who stepped up alongside Wood.
It took the Yorkshiremen in Joe Root (left) and Jonny Bairstow to stem the tide in a stand of 61 for the fourth wicket
Root fell shortly after passing Sachin Tendulkar as the leading runscorer in all Tests between England and India
Rohit Sharma was the only Indian wicket to fall after a rush of blood that saw him hole out to opposite number Stokes
Jack Leach was the only spinner to offer anything like the threat and turn of the Indian trio
Stokes burned through all three of his reviews although the third and final one did look close to lbw against Shubman Gill
But this was like nothing the florist’s son from Ormskirk has experienced in a modest first-class career so far that didn’t stop England picking him on a hunch for this series that he could replicate the height, angle and pace of Patel.
Hartley finished wicketless from nine expensive overs but was unfortunate not to have claimed Shubman Gill to a ball that looked mighty close to lbw but which was ruled to be going over the top by DRS. To add insult to England’s injury, Stokes burned his third review all within the first 14 overs in a desperate attempt to get Hartley a wicket.
The only one that did fall came with a rush of blood from Rohit Sharma that saw him hole out to who else but Stokes running back from mid-on off Jack Leach, the one spinner so far to offer anything like the threat and turn of the Indian trio.
It is early days, of course, but it is that comparison between these two sides spin attacks that will likely decide this series. And England need to get up to speed fast.
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