At lunch, after play had started 30 minutes late because of a wet outfield, England were 43 for one with Andrew Strauss on 20 and Jonathan Trott on nine.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni asked the home side to bat on a pitch with tinges of green after persistent showers during the week and his opening bowlers responded with three consecutive maiden overs.
Cook finally opened England’s account with a boundary to third man off Praveen Kumar from the 19th delivery but batting proved hard work with the ball moving through the air and off the seam.
Strauss received a life on three when Ishant Sharma missed with a shy at the stumps as the England captain scrambled to make his ground at the bowler’s end.
Cook had pushed the ball firmly to mid-on and Strauss, setting off for a non-existent single, was forced to change direction suddenly. He was still short of his ground when Sharma’s throw hurtled past the stumps.
Zaheer was rested after an opening spell of seven overs for nine runs including three maidens and Sharma took up the attack.Strauss responded by slashing the pace bowler’s fifth delivery in the air for his first boundary and Trott picked up another four with a deft leg-glance off the same bowler.
Trott had reached eight when Rahul Dravid at slip failed to grasp a sharp chance to his right off the first ball of Harbhajan Singh’s opening over 10 minutes before the lunch break.
The match is the 2,000th test match and the 100th between the two countries. England can overtake India as the world’s top-ranked side if they win the four-test series by at least a two-match margin.
Teams:
England: Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wkt), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson
India: Gautam Gambhir, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wkt), Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma
Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZL) and Asad Rauf (PAK)
TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)