England captain Joe Root became his country's leading run-scorer across all international formats before India's Mohammed Shami dismissed Jonny Bairstow with what became the last ball before tea on the opening day of the first Test at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.
England were 138-4 at the interval, with Root 52 not out after Bairstow had fallen lbw for 29 to end the Yorkshire duo's stand of 72.
Bairstow, in what remarkably was his first red-ball innings of the season had looked increasingly fluent until Shami's nip-backer struck him in front of the stumps, although it needed an India review to confirm his dismissal.
At tea, paceman Shami had fine figures of 2-18 in 13.2 overs after removing opener Dom Sibley for a laboured 18 earlier in the session.
Root, by reaching 23 when he punched Mohammed Siraj through the offside for his fifth four, surpassed retired former captain Alastair Cook's record of 15,737 runs in 257 matches across all formats for England.
A fortunate inside edge off Siraj that went for four took Root to 49 before a quick single saw him to fifty in 89 balls.
Earlier, Root decided to bat after winning the toss despite his side's longstanding top-order problems and a green-tinged pitch that offered the promise of movement for India's quicks in the first match of this five-Test series.
It took India just five balls to reduce England to none for one, with left-hander Rory Burns lbw to a Jasprit Bumrah delivery that cut back in.
Burns reviewed the decision but replays upheld the umpire's call, confirming that the ball had pitched in line and would have hit the top of middle stump.
New batsman Zak Crawley came to the crease having made just 123 runs in 12 Test innings since a brilliant 267 against Pakistan at Southampton last year.
Crawley had been largely untroubled until the 21st over. He survived a review for lbw and caught behind, with replays showing the ball had missed the inside edge by a distance.
But three balls later, having squandered one review, India captain Virat Kohli called for the replay again after an appeal for caught behind had been turned down by umpire Richard Kettleborough.
This time the Decision Review System revealed Crawley, whose 27 featured four boundaries, had got a thin inside edge with the ball also hitting his back leg on its way through to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant -- much to Kohli's evident relief.
At lunch, England were 61-2 with Sibley 18 not out and the fluent Root unbeaten on 12, including three fours.
Sibley, however, fell tamely when, having faced 70 balls, he chipped Shami straight to KL Rahul at short midwicket.
Root, however, square-drove Ravindra Jadeja's left-arm spin for four and struck a similar boundary off Shardul Thakur.
Apart from a mix-up with Bairstow that nearly led to a run out, Root cut an assured figure at the crease.
England were without Ben Stokes after it was announced on Friday the star all-rounder would be taking an indefinite break from cricket to "prioritise his mental health".
India dropped off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and fast bowler Ishant Sharma after they had both featured in a World Test Championship final loss to New Zealand at Southampton in June.