India secure emphatic first Test win against England England could not repeat their valiant and defiant rearguard display on the fourth day as they lost the First Test against India by nine wickets today. Perhaps the writing was on the wall as soon as India made 521 in their first innings, and the message was flashing in neon after England were bowled out for 191 in reply. Lingering hopes of a draw were extinguished quickly this morning as the tourists lost their last five wickets for 66 runs. Alastair Cook, their captain, who led a valiant rearguard action with an epic innings of 176, made no excuses. "I think we were ready for it, we were prepared for it, we just didn't deliver," he said. You can look for reasons and maybe we didn't trust our method as well as we could have done. To win a series out here everyone has got to contribute, there's no doubt about that, everyone has to stick their hands at certain times. The lads who haven't performed as well as they would have liked in this game will be very disappointed. You can analyse a lot about batting but that is the reason why we struggled in the game. Our batting especially in the first innings didn't deliver enough runs. The key to England's prospects of staying level in the series depended today almost entirely on a significant extension to the partnership between Cook, who played the most dogged innings of his career, and the wicketkeeper, Matt Prior, who was barely less stoic. But they were both dismissed before the first hour of the fifth day was out with England still fewer than 40 runs ahead. With them went their side's prospects of salvaging a draw from the wreckage of the first three days of the match. Cook said: "I'm bitterly disappointed. Coming to the ground we knew that Matty and I would have to do the bulk of the work but later on in the day it can get easier and easier, the heat drains the bowlers. Those guys have done a lot of overs fielding. It was a very small chance and a chance we could have taken, but it wasn't today that cost us. It was that first innings with the bat. In the middle order we didn't score enough runs. Everyone has got to look at themselves if we want to take something out of the series. The final submission rendered null and void the heroic resistance, based round two partnerships, for the first wicket between Cook and Nick Compton of 123 and for the sixth, featuring Cook and Prior, of 157. India needed 76 to go one up in the four-match series and knocked them off without fuss in 15.3 overs on a pitch that remained remarkably good-natured. Cook declined to be specific about the team for the Second Test, which starts in Mumbai on Friday, but England are clearly contemplating changes. One will be enforced. Ian Bell left the ground before the match was over to fly home to be with his wife for the imminent birth of their first child. Monty Panesar, the left arm spinner, also seems certain to play. Cook said: "Clearly when you get beaten by nine wickets you have a look at a lot of areas and what you could have done better. There will be a lot to ponder but we left the field ten minutes ago and to look ahead straightaway is a tough question to answer. Some thought and consideration will be made over the next couple of days. A lot of good people make the decisions in the England team. We thought we were doing the right thing but the result shows we might have got it wrong. It was important for the rest of the tour that England showed resistance, belated though it was. They will go to Mumbai, where the first Test starts on Friday, thinking that they have not allowed India to dictate all the terms. Cook's role cannot be overestimated. His innings of 176 from 334 balls, his 21 Test hundred, was the highest by an England captain in India. Only two of his predecessors, Peter May (285no at Edgbaston in 1957) and Mike Atherton (185no at The Wanderers in 1995 have) have made more for England in the second innings. Unfortunately for Cook, their endeavours were successful in securing a draw. Cook was bowled by the left arm spinner, Pragyan Ojha, the ball turning through his back foot defence. Five overs earlier, Prior, nine runs short of his seventh Test hundred, had been caught by surprise by an Ojha delivery which appeared to bounce more than he expected and prodded a return catch. The tail offered some token resolve but subsided in fairly regulation fashion.