England were not racing along, but they were confidently hitting their stride, they were establishing a pattern, but then a familiar collapse saw them slip to 198 for 7 from 133 for 1.
Moeen Ali was bumped up the order to number three, and he was beaten more often than not, and he dug in and brought up a defiant half-century.
"You're always hoping to let them bowl and bowl. But they just kept coming, bowling same pace, same areas. It was one of the best bowling attacks I've faced. They were just always, consistently there," Moeen said, about the Indian bowling attack.
'I tried to take it a ball at a time'
The pitch was on the slower side and Cook and Moeen grafted their way to a 73-run stand for the second wicket before Bumrah got rid of Ishant and then Moeen fell to Ishant as England tripped after tea.
"I just tried to take it a ball at a time. They bowled really well. The wicket was quite slow, but the ball was always doing something, so I just tried to stay as patient as I could. The Indian bowlers didn't give me a lot to hit. So I just tried to bat. I don't always play like that, but we were in a decent position," the all-rounder spoke about the Indian attack and the pitch.
Speaking about the promotion to the number three position, Moeen said that he had batted at that position for Worcester and has scored runs and hence is confident of doing the same for England as well.
His innings was not a flawless one as he was dropped and was beaten on more than one occasion, but Moeen said it did not fluster him.
"I know I was dropped, I know I played and missed, but I just tried to bat. I'm always confident. There's always good players, maybe some you don't know about at the moment. Obviously we don't want these collapses at the time," he said.
He was the man of the match at Southampton as his nine wickets in the match tormented the Indian batting. It was also his comeback match after he was axed following a disappointing Ashes series.
