England lost the wickets of Matt Prior and Tim Bresnan but an unbeaten 65 from Joe Root has helped the visitors reach 277-7 at lunch on day two of the fourth test in Nagpur.
Prior and Root both quickly brought up their half centuries as England made a bright start, punishing some sloppy spin bowling from India.
The hosts made an important breakthrough just minutes after a drinks break when Ravichandran Ashwin deceived Prior, who mistimed a forward lunge and was clean bowled on 57 runs.
Tim Bresnan was next to the crease but lasted just two balls as Ishant Sharma claimed an lbw dismissal.
Root dug in an survived a close run-out call to form a promising partnership with Graeme Swann as the second session of the day drew to a close.
