Nottingham, July 29: The Indian pace battery exploited the overcast conditions in Trent Bridge and had England tottering at 124 runs at the loss of eight wickets at tea on Day 1. But a counter-attack from Stuart Broad, with the tail-enders for company, saw the hosts reach 221 despite the odds.

Coming out to bowl, England were off to a sensational start as James Anderson dismissed Abhinav Mukund off the first ball of the innings. VVS Laxman joined Rahul Dravid in the middle and the duo stood unbeaten, with India on 24 runs for the loss of one wicket, at the end of day’s play.

Earlier, winning the toss and opting to bowl first here, Ishant Sharma removed opener Alastair Cook in the sixth over for just two runs and set the ball rolling for the visitors. A few overs later, S Sreesanth, who replaced Zaheer Khan, claimed Jonathan Trott.

Losing two early wickets, England scored 69 runs in the first session of the day. When lunch was called, Andrew Strauss and the double-centurion of the first Test, Kevin Pietersen, had stitched together a partnership worth 46 runs. MS Dhoni gave the ball to Yuvraj Singh for the last over before lunch, looking to exploit KP's discomfort against left arm spin.

With a few close calls that could have gone either way, there was plenty happening in the first session like Pietersen getting a lifer off Kumar - a strong lbw appeal turned down that led to an exchange of words between bowler and umpire.

India started the second session with the wicket of the danger-man Pietersen. An outswinger from Sreesanth just short of a length, outside off, took the edge of Pietersen’s bat and was through to Raina at third slip.

A while later, in the 37th over, Praveen Kumar got into the act with the key wickets of Andrew Strauss and Eoin Morgan in the same over; Kumar had claimed Strauss in the second innings of the Lord’s Test as well.

A couple of overs later, a Sreesanth delivery took the edge of Matt Prior’s bat and the ball landed right in the hands of Rahul Dravid at first slip. With Lord’s centurion Prior back in the dressing room, the hosts were floundering at six wickets for 88 runs mid-way through the second session.

Dravid’s dropped catch of Ian Bell (bowled Kumar) in the 43rd over allowed England to hold on to their last specialist batsman. But the man who now has 400 international catches under his belt made up with a brilliant catch in the slips, diving to his left to dismiss Tim Bresnan off Ishant Shrama in the 49th over.

In his next over, the last before tea, Sharma picked Ian Bell as the batsman edged the ball to the keeper. England were eight wickets down at tea with Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann in the middle.

Swann and Broad went after the Indian bowlers and misfields added to the misery of the bowlers in the third session. Even as 150 runs looked initially unattainable for England, a 73-run stand, the highest partnership for England in the innings, played a vital role in England crossing the 200 run mark. Swann’s 28-run effort was brought to an end by Praveen Kumar as the ball hit the bat’s handle and landed in the hands of Abhinav Mukund at gully.

Harbhajan Singh then dismissed the runaway Broad (64 off 66 balls) to wrap up the England innings. The pacer perished trying to hit Harbhajan over the top, finding Sachin Tendulkar at deep mid-wicket instead.

With the ball swinging, the Indian pacers picked three wickets each to prove their skipper’s decision to bowl first right.

Brief Score (At the end of Day 1): England 1st innings221 all out in 68.4 overs (Stuart Broad 64, A Strauss 32, P Kumar 3/45, I Sharma 3/66, S Sreesanth 3/77), India 1st innings 24/1 in 15 overs (VVS Laxman 13*, J Anderson 1/10 )