England lose eight wickets before tea

England slumped from 73 for two to give India early hope of claiming a series-levelling victory, though it remains to be seen how their own batsmen will cope if they are presented with the same conditions.

Stuart Broad was six not out and Graeme Swann yet to score. Ishant Sharma had three for 38, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth three for 49 and Praveen Kumar two for 27.

The first man to depart after lunch was Kevin Pietersen, to the fifth ball after the break for 29. He edged Sreesanth to Suresh Raina at third slip, playing at an out-swinger.

That strike ended a promising stand of 50 for the third wicket with captain Andrew Strauss and precipitated a flurry of wickets as new batsmen struggled to adjust to the ball wobbling in the air.

Strauss batted well for his 32 in 165 minutes but he lost patience and was drawn into a full-blooded drive when the probing medium-pacer Kumar bowled a rare wide delivery and Raina held a sharp head-high catch at third slip.

The score went from 85 for three to 85 for five when Eoin Morgan was dismissed without scoring off his third ball. He was lbw as Kumar moved the ball from leg to middle and off.

It was 88 for six when Matt Prior (1) edged another accurate ball on off stump to Rahul Dravid at first slip.

Tim Bresnan showed brief resistance before he also edged to Dravid for 11. Bell was the eighth man out, but his dismissal was more out of indiscipline than good bowling as he edged an attempted square cut to the wicketkeeper off Sharma.

Before lunch, India had removed Alastair Cook (2) and Jonathan Trott (4) cheaply

England lead the four-match series 1-0 after winning the first test at Lord’s.