Bhajji leads the Indian charge Trust England to blow a perfectly good situation. On losing the toss and being put in on a Mohali wicket that helped the seamers just that bit, the visitors got off to the worst possible start, with debutant Tinu Yohannan sending back Mark Butcher in just the fourth ball of the day. Skipper Nasser Hussain (85) in the company of Marcus Trescothick (66) then put on 125 for the second wicket, taking England to a position of relative safety. Late in the afternoon, however, the English middle order came crashing down against the combined might of tweakers Harbhajan Singh (5/51) and Anil Kumble (2/52). Seaming wicket or not, it was once again the spinners who did the job for India, reducing England to 238 all out. India meanwhile motored to 24/1 at close of play. The tone has been set for the series and, once again, the phrase 'whitewash' bandied about!

The Turbanator returns! All you need to do is change the ball, the temperature and the type of soil you're playing on, and a bowler who cannot even beat the bat becomes a match-winner. After bursting onto the scene with a 32-wicket three-Test sequence against Australia, Harbhajan Singh slowly but surely faded away into the background when India toured abroad. The wickets dried up, the captain lost some confidence in his bowler, and things went horribly wrong. The first day of Test cricket at home, against England, changed all that. Ending the day as the hero, with 5/51 to his credit, the 'Turbanator' is back in the news, for the right reasons this time. Although unsuccessful initially, Harbhajan destroyed England with a spell that read 7.3-3-6-5. The late middle-order had no answer to Harbhajan's off-breaks, even on a wicket that had no pronounced turn. Veteran left-arm spinner Maninder Singh explained things away with ease. "The Kookaburra ball doesn't have a very pronounced seam and is hard to grip. Over here, the SG Test balls give the bowler a good grip. Now that may not seem like a big deal, but it gives the bowler a lot of confidence," said Maninder. "Also, you could see the difference when Harbhajan bowled it a bit slower. There was that extra bounce that surprised the batsmen," said Maninder. The batsmen might have been surprised, but scribes in the press box at Mohali shook their heads at the unfolding of a familiar story.

Controlled aggression, Ganguly style It was a truly strange sight to see Anil Kumble send one of his skidders through, jump up in appeal, only to stifle himself at the last moment. The suspension of Virender Sehwag for excessive appealing has made a marked difference to this Indian team. Usually boisterous at home, the Indians have been strangely subdued in this match. Sourav Ganguly, however, is not worrying yet. When asked if the team were on their best behaviour, he retorted, "I thought we were on our best behaviour in South Africa. I still think there needs to be some aggression on the field. I know that there has to be some limit to this. But this is what people come to watch. I as a captain definitely feel that there has to be some aggression on the field." You go right ahead, Mr. Ganguly. The last thing India needs is a captain who's running scared!

Former India player and current coach of Bengal Woorkheri Raman explains why the Mohali Test is crucial for England. Click Here Eager for a series win after the drubbing in South Africa, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly speaks his mind to the press. Click Here Not yet a member of the CricInfo elite? Join Stumped, CricInfo's brand-new online cricket club, and catch your share of the excitement. Click Here