Pietersen leads from front, England 282 for 6

The visitors could have been in a better position but for a dramatic last two overs, which saw both Pietersen and Flintoff perishing in quick succession. James Anderson was batting on one when stumps were drawn following Flintoffs dismissal.

England still trail India by 171 runs with four wickets in hand in their first essay. Pietersens audacious 201-ball knock was the product of his five-hour vigil during which he hit 17 fours and a spectacular switch-hit six off Harbhajan Singh before eventually falling to the offie towards the end.

An equally bellicose Flintoff garnished his 132-ball knock with six fours and a six.

A thick fog delayed the start of the play by 90 minutes but India didnt have to wait long to get the early breakthroughs.

Rather, their first spell proved quite expensive for England, costing them two of their top order batsmen. On a high after his twin tons in the Chennai Test, Andrew Strauss (0) was brought down to earth by Zaheer Khans third delivery, which rapped him in front and umpire Daryl Harper felt it would have hit the stumps.

Like Strauss, Ian Bells (1) too was a brief three-ball stay as the very first delivery Ishant Sharma sent down proved a wicket-taking one. It took an inside edge before uprooting Bells middle stump.

It was quite an unenviable position as Pietersen walked out to bat. His opposite number Mahendra Singh Dhoni stunned all by replacing Zaheer with Yuvraj Singh after the left-arm seamer had removed Strauss in his first over.

The ploy, apparently prompted by the fact that Yuvraj had trapped Kevin Pietersen in the second innings of the Chennai Test, didn’t eventually pay off and Zaheer was soon back in the attack.

His side in the doldrums, Pietersen was not ready to allow the pressure bog him down and decided not to hold himself back. With Cook too lending a helping hand, Pietersen set out on a bailout job.

Pietersen clipped Ishant for his first four and then hit Zaheer for two boundaries in the same over a flick wide off the leg-slip and an on-drive to signal his intention.

Having witnessed both the setbacks from the other end, Cook was understandably cautious and the first two boundaries flowing from his bat were immaculate straight drives.

The left-hander then went on to hit Zaheer for two boundaries in the same over last one being an elegant pull.

Cook stepped on gas in the post-lunch session and Zaheer once again copped two boundaries in the same over.

The left-arm seamer almost had Cook when the batsman was on 44 but Sachin Tendulkar could not pouch the difficult chance at the lone slip.

A relieved Cook added another six runs to complete his fifty but Zaheer finally settled score with a yorker that trapped the batsman plumb in front.

England needed another of those gutsy knocks from Paul Collingwood (11) but this was clearly not his day as Amit Mishra joined Zaheer and Ishant in claiming a wicket in his first over.

Mishras third ball was a classic leg-spinner with plenty of flight and it turned viciously to take the edge off Collingwoods blade before nestling into Dhoni’s gloves.

The diminutive leggie troubled Flintoff too with his prodigious turn before the strapping all-rounder decided offence is the best defence and went run-a-ball at that stage.

Accordingly, Mishra was clipped through mid-wicket, driven through mid-on before struck for back-to-back boundaries. Yuvraj didnt escape the punishment either and was smote straight out of the ground as Flintoff looked good for a big knock.

Not really used to playing the second fiddle, Pietersen then treated Harbhajan the same way he had done with bowlers like Muttiah Muralitharan (2006) and Scott Styris (2008).

The sparse Mohali crowd saw the same switch-hit as Pietersen sprung to change his stance and slog-swept Harbhajan out of the ground for a massive six. He did try on against Mishra as well but with limited success, even though he succeeded to snap the rhythm of the Indian spinner.