Strauss, who was not part of the one-day squad, notched up his 13th Test century but his sheet-anchoring role was somewhat neutralised as the visitors lost quick wickets in the last session to be reduced to 229 for five at close on the opening day.

Electing to bat, Strauss and his opening partner Alastair Cook (52) provided a solid launch pad with a 118-run partnership but the cheap dismissals of Ian Bell (17), Kevin Pietersen (4) and Paul Collingwood (9) helped the hosts to tilt the balance slightly in their favour on a placid track at the M A Chidambaram stadium.

Andrew Flintoff (18) and night watchman James Anderson (2) were at the crease at stumps in a match held under extra ordinary circumstances after the recent terror attacks in Mumbai had thrown the series into jeopardy.

But England returned with a full strength team to stand "shoulder-to-shoulder" with the Indian people in their hour of grief.

The Chidambaram stadium, however, wore a deserted look as few spectators turned up to watch the opening day's proceedings, just a fortnight after the terror strikes in Mumbai.

England, who agreed to play the two-Test series after security checks and a shift in venues, joined the Indian players in wearing black bands and observing a minute's silence for the victims before play began.

The visitors were cruising along comfortably at 164 for one at one stage but suddenly lost the plot to be gasping at 221 for five, losing four wickets in the span of 57 runs to fritter away a good position.

The dismissal of Strauss late in the day came as a big blow for the tourists who now have only Flintoff and Matt Prior as the two recognised batsmen to steer the team to a decent total.

Anderson, who was sent in as the night watchman, played out a few anxious overs to ensure that England did not lose more wickets before stumps.

England openers Cook and Strauss adapted to the slow track which offered little for the fast bowlers in the morning session as the duo went for lunch at 63 without being separated.

The two openers made their intentions clear by not taking any risk and rarely stepping out to both new ball bowlers, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma.

Zaheer and Ishant could not extract any swing and movement in the air on the placid track in the morning even though they made the England openers hard to score runs.

Even the two spinners -- Harbhajan Singh and Amit Sharma -- got little help from the Chepauk pitch. Harbhajan, who was brought in for Zaheer in the ninth over of the innings, gave fours runs in his first over.

Strauss and Cook were cautious in their approach. The duo could not score more than two runs an over in the first hour which saw only one hit to the boundary.

The England openers pushed up the pace of scoring a bit in the later half of morning session but they took 88 minutes and 19 overs to reach their 50 partnership. Both miscued their pull shots on few occasions but no damage was done.

Harbhajan Singh provided the breakthrough midway through the post lunch session by getting the scalp of Cook much to the delight of his teammates.

Cook came up with a determined batting display before losing his composure to a tossed up delivery from Harbhajan Singh and return to the hut. Before his departure, however, Cook had added 118 runs off 40 overs with his opening partner Strauss.

Cook was out while playing across a spinning delivery to hole out to Zaheer at mid on region two overs before drinks break. Cook had faced 116 balls for his 15th Test fifty and stayed at the crease for 157 minutes.

Strauss did not allow the fall of Cook's wicket to distract his focus and with Bell kept the scoreboard ticking, often deploying the sweep shot against the spinners.

Barring a couple of bat-pad appeals, which were turned down by umpire Daryl Harper, the proceedings were bereft of any action in the second half of the post-lunch session as England hoisted 150 in 51.4 overs with Strauss moving into the 90s.

The complexion of the game changed in the last session with Zaheer and Ishant managing to get the reverse swing going. The Indians claimed four wickets for 65 runs in the session.

The pitch also started to give some assistance to the spinners in the last session, which means that India will have to ensure that the visitors do not get a big first innings total.

The dismissal of Bell started the slide for England as Zaheer trapped him leg before wicket. He then scalped the prized wicket of captain Pietersen with a short-pitched delivery.

Pietersen attempted to hook Zaheer's bouncer but mistimed the shot completely and the bowler made no mistake with the return catch.

Paul Collingwood fell victim to a dubious decision by umpire Billy Bowden as television replays showed that the bat was nowhere near the ball as Gautam Gambhir took the catch off Harbhajan Singh.

Leg spinner Amit Mishra then did his bit for the team when he got rid of the well-settled Strauss late in the day.