India v England fourth Test, day one report: Matt Prior and Joe Root rally on slow day Patel meanwhile had not done much wrong, and could only be faulted for not going on from his 20s and 30s. It was a daring decision to blood a nipper in a decider, even if it was one Worksop College boy for another, but from ball one Root batted like one who belonged. Root blocked his first two balls from the legspinner Piyush Chawla, then he was away with a cover-drive for three. It was the speed and precision of his movement that was so impressive: he didn't look hyped up or over-eager, he just got his head over the ball - unlike Ian Bell who had just driven Chawla to short extra - and eased into the stroke. Root faced Pragyan Ojha at the other end, again to the manner born. He tucked India's left-arm spinner through square-leg for a couple, then cover-drove him for four - and this in conditions so difficult for strokeplay that England's run-rate had slumped below two an over when Root went in. Alastair Cook got a poor decision from Kumar Dharmasena but even before that he had not found a way to score on this surface and continue his sequence of a century in every Test he has captained. Like Bell, Cook scored one run off 28 balls, while Nick Compton got the one ball all day - a short one from Ishant Sharma - that had to be played off the back foot. Dynamite would normally be needed to dismiss Jonathan Trott on such a slow pitch but his was the first soft dismissal of the day, Bell the second. England's right-handed batsmen had been happily shouldering arms against Ojha in this series, but Ravi Jadeja, a new left-armer, gets much closer to the stumps than Ojha and was far more dangerous to "leave": Trott was bowled offstump. Kevin Pietersen did his bit for the cause by being as patient as he could be. He alone found some fluency in run-scoring because he used his feet to come down the pitch a few times. But nothing flash or fancy. Compton is caught behind off Sharma Then Pietersen chipped a low catch to midwicket, leaving Root to carry the can with Prior and the tail. The lad could not have reacted better to the incipient crisis, blocking out the Indian spinners and the second new ball and taking England towards a presentable first innings total. The first innings of each side will go a very long way to deciding the outcome. India will have to take a lead if they are to win and square this series at 2-2, to offset the difficulties of batting last. But in England's favour is the fact that they have two pace bowlers (unfortunately not Steve Finn (disc trouble), to hit this cracked deck and made the ball shoot through, while India have only the one. Some more Root, and a total of 300, and England should be safe.