KARACHI: England recovered after an early stumble on the first day of the fourth and final Test against India on Thursday in Nagpur to reach 199-5 at the close of the day.

Alastair Cook, who won the toss and chose to bat first on a slow pitch, was dismissed by Ishant Sharma as a result of a poor umpiring decision. Sharma also took Nick Compton's wicket to leave the tourists reeling at 16-2.

Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott helped England recover as they shared a 86-run partnership but Trott was unable to complete his half-century as he was removed after scoring 44 runs by debutant Ravindra Jadeja who later also stopped Pietersen at 73.

England were at 139-5 after Ian Bell was caught out by Virat Kohli off Piyush Chawla without contributing much. Debutant Joe Root and Matt Prior then steadied England with a 60-run partnership with an unbeaten 31 and 34 respectively.

Root was particularly impressive during his first Test match as he made 10 runs off 11 balls just before tea.

England currently lead the four-match Test series 2-1 and will become the first tourists since 2004 to win a series in India if they win this Test.