India v England: James Anderson's lightning strikes wound host batsmen Whether the softer ball grips the cracks better on this pitch is something that may require scientific study but, whatever the mechanics at play, Anderson suddenly got one to jag back sharply and bowl Tendulkar off the inside edge. Apart from the joy of dismissing India's greatest run-getter, it was a record-breaking moment for Anderson as it became the ninth time he had dismissed Tendulkar, which is one more than Muttiah Muralitharan, the next best. The confidence gained from that scalp, and from his bravura performance in Calcutta where he took six wickets, suddenly gave Anderson's bowling menace on a surface where only patience had previously been an ally. Gambhir, so assured to that point, was drawn into a nervous waft which he edged to Matt Prior behind the stumps. It was a brilliant, predatory spell of strike bowling, the kind that has been perennially difficult for English pace bowlers to produce in India. But Anderson is at the peak of his powers both strategically and technically, a combination too good for an Indian batting line-up that has become increasingly demoralised since losing the second Test in Mumbai. MS Dhoni, who promoted himself up the order, and Virat Kohli survived until the close but only because Cook decided to rest Anderson soon after his double strike no doubt saving him for later in the match. Graeme Swann chipped in with a wicket as well as a valuable fifty to complement Root's impressive knock and Prior's watchful 57. Swann's wicket was also the product of hitting a crack, after it turned and bounced sharply to Pujara, the only problem being that it struck the batsman's underarm and not his glove en route to Ian Bell at short-leg, and so shouldn't have been given out. Root's innings was mature beyond his years and there were echoes of Alastair Cook's remarkable Test debut in Nagpur six and half years ago. Cook made 60 and 103 against India then so Root, who made 73 from 229 balls, has not yet matched him. As debuts go, though, he can feel mightily satisfied. It was certainly an innings of gravitas and while others have faced more balls in their maiden knocks for England, like Roger Tolchard and WG Grace to name but two, their matches didn't have as much riding on them - this being the difference between having one's name writ large as a winner or in the medium script of those claiming a worthy draw, which is what would happen if India manage to win this last Test. With conditions not really conducive to free-scoring, it was also a model of application, Root matching ball to shot with impeccable judgment until he was dismissed by Piyush Chawla, who caught and bowled him against the run of play. It was his only mistake and possibly it was Swann's breezy nonchalance with the bat which caused his downfall by persuading him to play bigger and bolder shots. Always a decent ball striker, Swann picked his ball and his spot carefully, twice striking sixes with sweep slogs and he looked good until an ill-judged reverse-sweep gave Chawla the third of four wickets. Earlier it had been Prior who had played the alpha male to Root's young buck, the pair adding 103 for the sixth wicket before Prior misjudged the line from around the wicket and was bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin.