Ben Stokes sparkles with the bat but England's selection and strategy could prove costly in India - Chris Waters

On this evidence, they might do well to go much beyond the halfway stage, given the assistance on offer to the spinners in particular.

As expected, it was India’s who held sway right from the outset, the superior talents of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel shining through as they took eight of the wickets to fall as England were bowled out for 246 after winning the toss.

It was a competitive-ish score and one that owed much to Ben Stokes’s 70 from 88 balls, the captain pacing his innings with customary intuition, one of eight men to reach double figures but the only one to build on a promising platform.

England’s total - and their inexperienced spin bowling line-up - was put into perspective as India raced to 50 in 6.3 overs, 34 of them conceded by Tom Hartley, the debutant left-arm spinner who opened the bowling with Mark Wood, the only seamer selected.

Hartley’s first ball in Test cricket was hit for six over wide long-on by Yashasvi Jaiswal, the precious left-hander who swept the Lancashire man’s fifth delivery for another six on his way to an unbeaten 76 from 70 balls, India reaching 119-1 at stumps from just 23 overs.

As Hartley pondered figures of 9-0-63-0, stubbornly kept on by Stokes in a perhaps not unexpected show of blind faith, so England might ponder that they erred in not picking Jimmy Anderson, with Jasprit Bumrah having shown the value of a balanced attack with the wickets of Stokes and Rehan Ahmed with magnificent deliveries earlier in the piece. Would Anderson have conceded seven runs an over? Unlikely.

After all the controversy going into the game surrounding Shoaib Bashir’s delayed visa, with the Somerset off-spinner perhaps reflecting that he might have dodged a bullet given Hartley’s hardships, it was a relief to finally get the cricket under way at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

There looked to be a good crowd present as England started well, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett sharing an opening stand of 55 before Duckett fell to the penultimate ball of the 12th over, lbw to one from Ashwin that skidded past the bat.

It was the first of three wickets for five runs as a close catch ended a skittish performance from Ollie Pope and then a low grab at mid-off did for Crawley as he tried to take the attack to Ashwin.

Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow added 61 only for Bairstow to get a jaffa from Axar Patel, who bowled the perfect left-arm spinner that clipped the top of off, and then Root failed to control the bounce as he top-edged Jadeja to short fine-leg.

England slipped to 137-6 when Ben Foakes pushed with hard hands at Patel and was caught behind, and then to a distinctly precarious 155-7 when Rehan Ahmed was outfoxed by a slower one from Bumrah that jagged back sharply.

A competitive-ish score was then some way off but Hartley produced an excellent cameo (23 from 24) before Jadeja bowled him through the gate, and Wood also hung around usefully before a slog-sweep at Ashwin was followed by the death rattle.

The work of Hartley and Wood gave Stokes the support he needed to step on the gas, which he did through a combination of brutal drives, powerful pulls and innovative switch-hits.

After a suitably measured start, the last 53 of Stokes’s runs came from 36 balls, including a straight six off Jadeja that took him to his half-century - followed by another from the next delivery which was hoisted over square-leg.

Alas for England, the fun and games ended when Bumrah defeated Stokes’s attempt to go big again, the ball shaping away and striking the stumps.

As he walked off, Stokes gestured as if to say, ‘That was too good for me, Jasprit, lad”, the smiles on their respective faces betraying an underlying sense of good sportsmanship.

After just two overs from Wood when India replied, Stokes went to all-spin for the rest of the session, burning all three reviews in the process.

He himself held on at mid-on when Rohit Sharma tried to loft Jack Leach over the top, a poor shot quite frankly, but Stokes seemed to care more about Hartley’s feelings than the rising India total as he steadfastly kept him on – and on.

It was sympathetic, indeed empathetic captaincy, clearly designed to show support and keep confidence high, but although Hartley induced a couple of close shaves he was not quite able to repay the faith (he had no warm-up matches to hone his craft, after all), while Rehan endured a difficult outing towards day’s end, his three overs of leg-spin leaking 22.

And so the sides reconvene at 4am UK time for the proverbial “big first hour”, one that England can barely afford to lose to stay in contention.