Kolkata, July 12 -- First hour of the day, England lost three quick wickets during a 14-ball burst from Jasprit Bumrah. For more than an hour after that, India's bowling just went off the boil. Jamie Smith and Brydon Carse helped England add 84 for the eighth wicket before Mohammad Siraj restored some balance in the second over of the second session with a ball that had Smith flirting with it. Smith had been dropped by KL Rahul at slip on 5, and the lines were not always great, but staggering was how the ball had been changed repeatedly in the first session. Handmade in the UK, Dukes used to be known for its pronounced seam and enduring hardness. But the narrative has changed completely in this tour, with players from both sides repeatedly expressing their displeasure over the unusually soft Dukes balls going out of shape abnormally quick. On Friday the second new ball to be changed after 10.3 overs, and then again after 48 deliveries. At one point in time, Gill was seen remonstrating with the umpire over the quality of the changed ball. And he has a point. This has been an odd series where wickets have fallen at an average of 48.5 balls in the first 30 overs, only to slump to 86.09 between overs 31 to 80. The second new ball was swinging 1.869 degrees and seamed 0.579 degrees on average. The replacement ball swung less by more than a degree, allowing England's lower order to play the ball off the pitch. Smith at least is a specialist with a hundred under his belt, at Edgbaston, this series. But the way Brydon Carse - a specialist bowler - was playing through the line, it suggested that the ball was nothing like a second new ball should have been behaving at around 10-15 overs. In fact once the second new ball was replaced, Sunil Gavaskar said on air that the changed ball looks older than it is. "It looks like a 20 overs-old ball," he said. On X, Stuart Broad, a vocal critic of the Dukes ball, said: "The cricket ball should be like a fine wicketkeeper. Barely noticed. We are having to talk about the ball too much because it is such an issue & being changed virtually every innings. Unacceptable. Feels like it's been five years now. Dukes have a problem. They need to fix it. A ball should last 80 overs. Not 10." Unclear, however, is what triggered India to ask for a ball change when Bumrah had got the crucial breakthroughs of Ben Stokes and Joe Root with it. During the lunch break, former England fast bowler Steve Harmison said on air that India might have erred in not checking with Bumrah before taking the ball to the umpire. Former England captain Nasser Hussain flagged this as well while commentating on Sky Sports. "They got through in that first hour and Bumrah was unplayable . Why change? Why take the gamble?" Only twice has a side lost at Lord's after making 350+ batting in the first innings of the Test. England were 271/7 before this drama unfolded and India probably got too caught up in it instead of focusing on dismissing the lower order quickly. They will be hoping England's rear guard doesn't cost them this Test....