Kevin Pietersen moved to an unbeaten 68 as England reached 133-4 at tea against India on day one of the fourth Test in Nagpur.
Runs were at a premium as England toiled at the crease but they will be relieved to have ended the second session of the day with the loss of just four wickets.
Despite only scoring 61 runs during the morning session, England showed little ambition to improve their scoring rate as they mustered just 36 runs in the opening hour after lunch.
Pietersen was proving pivotal in ensuring that England were capable of keeping the score ticking over and he reached his 50 with a boundary.
England finally reached three figures, but moments later they lost their third wicket when Jonathan Trott left a Ravindra Jadeja delivery that subsequently struck his off stump.
With Trott dismissed for 44, Ian Bell came to the crease but it continued to be hard toil for England's batsmen as they crept to 116-3 with 20 minutes of the session remaining.
England suffered a blow with just before tea when Bell chipped the ball to Virat Kohli off a Piyush Chawla delivery.
Bell's wicket resulted in the introduction of Joe Root for his Test debut and he supported Pietersen well with 10 runs off 11 balls before the session came to an end.
You can keep updated with the final session of day one by following Sports Mole's live commentary.
Darren Plant
