England spinner Monty Panesar was left delighted after taking four wickets as India closed on 266 for 6 on day one of the second test in Mumbai.

Left out of the nine-wicket defeat in the first test last week, Panesar replaced Tim Bresnan while Jonny Bairstow came in for Ian Bell as England fought back into the series with six wickets on day one.

On a pitch which assisted the tourists' seamers, James Anderson trapped Gautam Gambhir (4) in the first over before Panesar bowled Virender Sehwag (30) and Sachin Tendulkar (8) leaving the home side 60 for 3.

A century in successive tests from Cheteshwar Pujara, who finished unbeaten on 114 helped stem the flow but the dismissal of Virat Kohli (19) and Vuvraj Singh (0) in successive overs and then of captain MS Dhoni (29) gave England the upper hand despite a late flurry of runs from Ravichandran Ashwin, who remains 60 not out.

And man of the hour Panesar says he was delighted to have the opportunity to impress.

Monty Panesar
Panesar took four wickets as England turned the tide. Reuters

"It was just nice to get an opportunity and they've already played four days cricket on here, so you're kind of expected to make it turn and bounce," he said.

"The Ahmedabad pitch was a little bit slower. This one seems to have a bit more turn and bounce, so it keeps all the spinners and the seamers interested.

"I was just trying to get my action in good order and make sure I was doing the right things."

The pick of Panesar's four scalps came as he bowled Tendulkar with a delivery which pitched in line with middle, before spinning back to hit the top of off stump, while the wicket of Sehwag also left the left-arm spinner thrilled.

"They are both world-class players, and they are great players in India, so you've got to bowl balls like that to get them out, or it's going to be quite difficult," Panesar said.

"It was quite nice to get two scalps like that."

"I thought we stuck at it really well out there," he added. "We put a lot of pressure on the Indian batters early doors, which is something they probably didn't expect.

"They won the toss, looked to have a bat and probably thought maybe they'd only have a few wickets down for 200-plus. But we applied a lot of pressure to them, and having five wickets down really early was a testament to how we did that.

"They obviously built a really good partnership. What we're hoping is we can restrict them to under 300."

India