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.