All the talk yesterday was of how England fell to a succession of wrong 'uns, although not everybody was referring to the potency of Anil Kumble's googly. The umpiring of Ian Robinson ran Kumble a pretty close second.

Four England batsmen succumbed to the googly - three of them from Kumble, who finished the day with five wickets - but, even given the usual riders, about how umpires do not have the benefit of video playbacks and how players just cannot be trusted to be honest these days, it has to be added that Robinson had a shocker.

The captain Nasser Hussain was adjudged leg-before to a ball that was wandering aimlessly down the leg side and Michael Vaughan, called up late in place of Graham Thorpe, was given out as he padded one to short-leg. From 144 for one England were again trapped in Kumble's downward spiral and they were relieved to arrest it to an extent to close at 277 for six.

Until mid-afternoon the day belonged to Marcus Trescothick. He fell on 99, his dabble at Kumble's googly providing Deep Dasgupta with a catch at the wicket and robbing him of a third Test century that four yeoman hours had deserved.

Trescothick strode forward against the spinners in a manner not exhibited in the opening Test in Mohali. He smote the ball through the offside, churned out a few hay-baler sweeps and increasingly bore the red-faced cheeriness of a ploughman about to tuck into a cheese and pickle lunch.

Hussain had won the toss for the first time in 15 attempts and had no hesitation in batting first on a slow surface expected to take increasing turn.

Predictions were that the pitch might turn most dangerously around the third day, leaving England's target to bat for the first two. Into the 40th over, on a placid surface showing no immediate signs of turn, it did not seem beyond them.

Both Trescothick and Mark Butcher punished any width from the seamers and, if Butcher lacked his partner's assertiveness against the spinners, their start of 124 was England's first century opening stand since Trescothick and Michael Atherton against Pakistan 14 innings ago.

Then Butcher tickled a ball that Kumble slid across him to the wicketkeeper, Robinson sent Hussain and Vaughan packing, and the overriding question became whether England or the monkey that sprinted across the terraces would prove to have the longer tail.

Kumble's 289 Test wickets at the start of play underlines his pedigree. His googly, recently developed, has become a dangerous ally to the top-spinner which makes playing back to him forever dicey. Andrew Flintoff prefers plunging forward. For the second Test innings running he rammed his second ball into silly point's hands.

Mark Ramprakash's organised innings ended disappointingly when he was bowled playing back to a googly not from Kumble but from Sachin Tendulkar.

Craig White did at least have an idea how to play the Indian spinners. He began assertively, to release the pressure, and his footwork was confident as he then made controlled progress to 42 not out by the close. James Foster needed some luck to hang on with him but after his harrowing Test debut it was the least his dogged resistance deserved.

Meanwhile Graham Thorpe has called time on another winter of discontent, flying home from Ahmedabad yesterday to attend to "pressing matters of a personal nature." The 32-year-old Surrey left-hander is understood to have marital problems, and was given permission to leave the tour by the team management.