We're surprised by lateral movement but I tried to play without fear: Curran

Sam Curran said England were surprised by the amount of lateral movement India generated throughout the opening day but he kept it simple and played without fear to lift the hosts to a fighting total in the fourth Test here.

Curran (78) scored his second Test half-century as England recovered from 86-6 to finish with 246 runs. The left-hander put up crucial lower-order partnerships with Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad to frustrate the Indian bowlers.

"It was pretty tough - it swung massively throughout the day. Even when I was in, probably in my 30s, it was still swinging around consistently when the ball was 65 overs old. That surprised us a little bit how much it swung, and how much it did off the wicket," said Curran.

"There were some very good balls in there, to a lot of the top order. But we managed to get 246 which from 86 for six looks a decent score now. That's a massive positive for us going into tomorrow with a bit of momentum."