There are two ways to look at it. England won the toss on an unusual pitch in the third Test in Mohali and could not make it count, slumping to 92/4 in the first session. There is another way: India and their shambolic fielding were let off the hook by some even more shambolic batting by England.

India dropped two catches in the first session and the recipient of those chances was Alastair Cook. In the second over of the day, Ravindra Jadeja could not get his hands to a sharp leading edge at third slip. It burst through and went to the boundary.

If that was simple, the next one was an absolute sitter. In the 11th over, the England captain lazily clipped to Ravichandran Ashwin at mid-wicket. The ball came at a gentle pace, straight to the offie who promptly dropped it. To add insult to injury, he misfielded the next ball to give Joe Root a boundary.

But England failed to make it count. Haseeb Hameed could call himself unlucky as a Umesh Yadav delivery reared off the surface, caught his glove and sliced up at 32/1. But Alastair Cook and Joe Root cannot give such an excuse

The drinks break turned it around. The first ball after the drinks break had Root play an ugly, lazy dab across the line to Jayant Yadav, only to misread the line completely and be hit plumb in front. It was a senseless shot and as Nasser Hussain pointed out in the commentary box, “It was a shot that would have only given him one run, at maximum.”

Ashwin then made amends. Cook is known to be a sensible customer but he flashed and flashed hard to the first ball he faced off the world’s No. 1 Test bowler, also the first ball he faced after the drinks break. Unfortunately, he only got a thick edge, providing huge relief for Ashwin after that dropped catch.

Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow tried to take England unscathed to lunch but Ali’s overt aggression got to him. He hit Jayant Yadav for a straight six and a four but played one shot too many to Mohammed Shami and got a top-edge to fine leg. India will be, by far, the happier and the more relieved team at the lunch break. Concurrently, England will be kicking themselves for not being able to take advantage of India’s shabbiness on the field.

Brief scores:

England 92/4 (Alastair Cook 27, Jonny Bairstow 20 not out; Ravichandran Ashwin 1/14) vs India