England v India: Stuart Broad stars with 6-25 at Old Trafford

Stuart Broad took the 12th five-wicket haul of his Test career

Stuart Broad took six wickets and James Anderson three as England assumed control of the fourth Test against India on an action-packed opening day at Old Trafford.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat, India collapsed to 8-4 as Broad and Anderson found prodigious swing and carry on a bouncy wicket.

Captain Mahendra Dhoni countered with 71, but Broad blew away the tail to bowl India out for 152, a total in which a record-equalling six batsmen were out for ducks.

England lost both openers cheaply, but rallied to reach 113-3 by the close, with Ian Bell unbeaten on 45.

Bell added 77 with Gary Ballance, whose dismissal for 37 in the final over of the day gave a second wicket to fast bowler Varun Aaron, one of three India players making their first appearances of the series.

England's near perfect day has put them in a strong position from which to go 2-1 up with one match to play.

It represents a remarkable turnaround for a team whose heavy defeat in the second Test at Lord's extended their winless run to 10 matches and prompted widespread calls for captain Alastair Cook to stand down.

Here in Manchester, Cook was indebted to Dhoni's decision to bat first under grey skies and Anderson, whose brilliant opening burst underlined his importance to the side in the week he was cleared of misconduct for his fracas with India's Ravindra Jadeja.

Broad, who will undergo knee surgery after the fifth Test, was not far behind, although his final four wickets owed more to poor batting than fine bowling.

After the start of play had been delayed half-an-hour by rain, Broad instigated the rout when he had experienced opener Gautam Gambhir - drafted in for the struggling Shikhar Dhawan - caught by Joe Root in the gully.

Fourteen mad minutes, and three immaculate away-swingers later, the tourists were four down.

Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli both nicked Anderson to Alastair Cook at first slip, and Cheteshwar Pujara poked at Broad and was well taken by Chris Jordan at fourth.

With Anderson and Broad expertly exploiting helpful conditions, India were in danger of total meltdown, but captain Dhoni led a recovery of sorts.

He added 54 with Ajinkya Rahane, who was out on the stroke of lunch, and 66 with Ravichandran Ashwin, who counter-attacked with an entertaining 40 off 42 balls.

In between, there was a satisfying moment for Anderson, as he followed two outswingers with a beautifully disguised inswinger to have his Trent Bridge nemesis Jadeja trapped lbw for a duck.

The last four wickets arrived in relatively quick succession during another fine spell from Broad before tea.

Ashwin and Dhoni were both caught slogging, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pankaj Singh were clean bowled to take the tally of ducks to six.

Kumar stuck an early blow with the ball when Sam Robson was bowled shouldering arms to an inswinger.

The Middlesex opener now has only 69 runs in his last five Test innings and could soon come under pressure for his place.

Meanwhile, Cook's search for a first Test hundred since May 2013 goes on. The captain could not resist hooking fast bowler Varun Aaron and planting a catch into the hands of deep backward square leg.

At 36-2, India had an opening, but England reasserted themselves through Ballance and Bell.

Ballance, who has three hundreds in his last five Tests, started slowly before finding the boundary with sweetly timed drives on both sides of the wicket.

Bell was aggressive from the outset, hitting seven fours and swatting Ashwin over his head for six to emphasise England's supremacy.

Dhoni won the toss, unaware of the horror start his side would face

The Old Trafford scorebord shone brightly in the early morning gloom as England reduced India to 8-4

Chris Jordan took his first wicket in three Tests when he dismissed Ajinkya Rahane

Jos Buttler dropped Ravichandran Ashwin when the batsman was on 26. He made 40