Four exquisite cover drives and a couple of glorious shots past mid-on were positive signs for Virat Kohli, the batsman, at The Oval in London on Thursday. But Kohli, the captain, would hardly be impressed with how his team batted in the first innings of the fourth Test against England.

Put in to bat in typical English conditions, India were all out for 191. That they reached such a total was purely due to a defiant half-century from Shardul Thakur (57 off 36 balls), who came in place of Ishant Sharma and his crucial 63-run stand with Umesh Yadav for the eighth wicket.

Thereafter, India’s bowlers ensured a better finish to the day, reducing England to 53/3 at stumps, the highlight being the dismissal of the dangerously in-form Joe Root.

After openers Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed’s poor technique gave Jasprit Bumrah two early wickets, Umesh (replacing Mohammed Shami) bowled a ripper to knock over Root towards the end of the first day’s play.

Earlier, it was again a sorry state of affairs for the visitors as some of their batsmen kept committing the same mistake of prodding outside the off stump. The England quicks too deserve credit for making good use of the bowler-friendly conditions and relentlessly attacking the off stump.

The scenario though was ideal for captain Kohli to make a statement. When on 22, he poked at an away-going delivery from England’s comeback man Chris Woakes, only to be dropped by his counterpart Root at first slip.

It was his only error till then. After that, he unleashed a few wonderful strokes, which got him going as he brought up his second successive half-century. But he got stuck at 50 for a little while before Ollie Robinson, England’s find of the series, jagged it back and bowled the in-between length that had Kohli in a tangle and hit the splice of his bat before flying to the ’keeper.

In what was a very surprising move, Ravindra Jadeja was sent in at No.5 ahead of the struggling Ajinkya Rahane. But Jadeja never looked comfortable before edging one to slip and giving Woakes his second scalp. Vice-captain Rahane (14) did not last for long either.

It was then an opportunity for Rishabh Pant to redeem himself. But since “that’s the way he plays”, he once again fell into the opposition’s trap and holed out to the mid-off fielder, who was pushed back.

Earlier, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul had begun well in extremely overcast conditions. But after Woakes got the better of Rohit with extra bounce, things started getting harder for India.

Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored 91 in his previous innings, perished as he hung his bat out and edged behind off James Anderson.