A madcap first day, in which all 10 India wickets had fallen by tea, ended with England well set to establish a commanding position on the second day.

Only a determined 71 from MS Dhoni, 40 from Ravichandran Ashwin and 24 from Ajinkya Rahane saved India from humiliation, as they eventually struggled their way to 152, having lost their first four wickets with the score on eight.

The real damage came from Stuart Broad, who took six for 25, the third best figures of his career and his best since taking six for 81 at Brisbane last November, and including a post-lunch burst of four for six in 21 balls.

In reply, England lost both openers, Sam Robson — bowled, bat in the air, by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, deceived by his sleight of hand — and Alastair Cook, who top-edged a pull to give Varun Aaron, slippery of pace, the first of two wickets. Gary Ballance, doing little to dispel the opinion that he is a very good player, and Ian Bell, who survived a sticky time at the start of his innings, added 77 for the third wicket, taking England almost to the close, before Ballance went lbw to Aaron for 37.

Bell will resume on 45, having hit seven fours and once stepping from his crease to hit Ashwin straight for six. Chris Jordan, the nightwatchman, faced just two balls and was made to play neither.

At 113 for three, England trail by 39. Bowling conditions

It was a good day for England from the moment Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat. This was not a decision either captain would have wanted to make but Dhoni did what was probably the right thing. England would have taken a similar path, although Cook, like Dhoni, would have called it with fingers crossed.

Even now, provided the ball continues to offer the assistance it has done, India are far from out of the game. These were the sort of bowling conditions that, for the seamers anyway, make up for the all the pancake pitches that all too often are their lot.

The groundsman had promised good pace and carry and although they would say that, wouldn’t they, he was as good as his word. There was a dripping humidity in the air too and the flags atop the pavilion hung limp. The ball, dark almost mahogany red, would swing, the secret then only in harnessing it.

This, for all the early India processional, England too often failed to do. Perhaps the ball did too much for Anderson zipped it in and out, wickedly and late, making it talk as if he was a ventriloquist and this was his dummy (all innings no one saw his lips move).

But if he found perfect deliveries to get rid of Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli, neither of whom could be accused of culpability, and another to send Ravindra Jadeja packing, a trio of ducks between them, too many balls were allowed to pass by harmlessly, a real waste.

By contrast Broad profited from more accuracy, neither seeking nor gaining Anderson’s extravagant movement, but keeping the batsmen under pressure by making them play. The support these two received was indifferent for Chris Woakes, trying too hard no doubt to make the ball sing for its supper, was not able to reproduce the accuracy that he had demonstrated at Ageas Bowl.

Jordan was a mixture of good and while never bad, ordinary.

Worryingly, too, after the initial inroads had been made and Dhoni was at the crease, there was a tendency to drag back the length from optimum. It is a mistake to suggest, as it often is, that swing bowlers do not mind being driven (take it from here, they do) but even more they hate being cut, pulled or generally biffed off the back foot.

Electronic scoreboard The start could scarcely have been better for England, or worse for India. Gautam Ghambir, Vijay, Kholi and Cheteshwar Pujara departed to smart catches in the offside cordon of close catchers.

After one exceptional double-wicket over from Anderson, the electronic scoreboard registered it in the middle as WOW, which was a decent summary (the following over from Broad, a wicket maiden, WOOOOO, sounds more like the night noises on the England floor at the Langham hotel).

If only England could have maintained the pressure better there was a chance of utter humiliation. There were oohs and ahhs aplenty as ball beat bat but lines were awry too often.

Rahane has had a good series and looked in more control but Dhoni was all at sea, hanging on by the skin of his teeth, and somehow surviving, scoring with profitable thick edges that eluded the echelon of catchers, and the odd clump.

Together the pair added 54 before Rahane edged Jordan to second slip, with lunch imminent.

The dismissal of Jadeja straight after the interval, lbw to Anderson’s swing, was a prelude to a seventh-wicket partnership of 66 which brought India if not to respectability, then some stability.

Ashwin escaped on 23 when the wicketkeeper Jos Buttler missed him off Anderson (wrong-footed he may have been but he should still have held the chance) and went on to make 40 before he pulled Broad to Robson at deep backward square leg.

Dhoni, meanwhile, had reached a battling half century of real character with 11 fours and having then lost Kumar, deceived and bowled by Broad’s inswing, was ninth out, somehow hauling a delivery from well wide of off stump to Jordan at long leg. He had batted for almost three and a half hours though, a great effort in the circumstance Guardian Service