The Indian seamers had to toil hard against a resurgent Essex batting line-up, managing to get only five wickets on a green top in the second day of the of their only practice match.
At stumps, Essex were 237 for 5, trailing India by 158 runs with the experienced James Foster (23) and Paul Walter at the crease.
Umesh Yadav was the most impressive of the Indian seamers, picking two wickets and going for only 23 runs in his 14 overs, that included 7 maidens.
Umesh surged ahead to almost cement his spot in the playing XI for the first Test match Edgbaston with his control and swing. He drew first blood trapping Essex opener Nick Browne in his third over and then returned late in the evening to get the outside edge of Rishi Patel.
Barring Umesh, the rest of the Indian seamers were far from impressive. Ishant did pick up a couple of wickets but was not too consistent with his lines.
Making a comeback to cricket after sorting issues in his personal life, Shami too looked far from his best, leaking runs at more than four runs per over.
Tom Westley (57) made this waywardness count as he stroked to a half-century with 11 fours. He played quite a few streaky shots, especially against Hardik Pandya (0-41), who was easily India's second-best bowler on the day after Yadav.
Pandya bowled with good rhythm and pace and regularly induced the batsmen forward. He should have got a wicket or two, but on a couple occasions the ball flew through the slip cordon and gully.
Shardul Thakur (1-41) was fourth change bowler and put in a good effort under the baking sun. He dismissed Westley, who was out caught miscuing a pull.
Michael Pepper (68) though defied the Indian bowling, and stroked his way to 68 off 74 balls, inclusive of 15 fours, against a Test-quality bowling attack. He handled both Shami and Ishant with ease, especially as the latter strayed down leg too often.
Spin was only introduced in the 28th over, and Ravindra Jadeja (0-17) just sent down two overs. It will be interesting to see if he bowls on day three at all.
Ishant got his second when Pepper played on, while Yadav got his reward as he nicked off Rishi Patel (19) with another outswinger later in the day.
This was after Dinesh Karthik (82) was out caught on the first ball of day two, even as India continued to bat.
Pandya (51) then went on to complete his half-century off 81 balls, a vital knock in the context of the ensuing five-Test series, albeit he got out immediately afterwards.
Disappointingly, Karun Nair (4) got out cheaply as he played on. But Rishabh Pant (34 not out), sent out to bat at number eleven as Ashwin was injured, regaled the Essex faithful with some good stroke making as he hit six sizzling boundaries