MS Dhoni wanted the ball to turn on the first day and in India his wish is usually the groundsman's command. In fact the India captain may have been a tiny bit disappointed. The ball did not really start turning until around 12.30pm, which was three hours after the start of play.

By then Monty Panesar had bowled more than a dozen overs and had taken a wicket that, when he reclines in his rocking chair many decades from now, he will still remember with precision and pride. He dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai with a dream delivery. Let us hope his grandchildren never tire of hearing about it.

Tendulkar already had a special place in Panesar's career. He was Monty's first wicket, in Nagpur seven years ago, when he was taken aback to be lbw propping forward. But this was better, indeed surely the best of the 146 Test wickets Panesar now possesses.

During that morning session there had been little turn. This may have led Tendulkar to think that he could safely manoeuvre the ball on the leg side. Earlier Panesar had overpitched a little to him but this time the length was perfect according to the gospel of Wilfred Rhodes, the great Yorkshireman: "A good length is when you bowl the ball as short as possible while still making the batsman play forward."

Tendulkar, maybe contemplating a leg-side single, stretched as the ball pitched on middle stump and then turned before snapping the off stump out of the ground. Shane Warne, in the commentary box for one match – in Mumbai rather than Isleworth – must have been reminded of something that happened at Old Trafford all those years ago. Mike Gatting, wherever he was, may have enjoyed a comparison with a stunned Tendulkar.

In fact Tendulkar has looked unusually mortal in his series, twice succumbing cheaply to English spinners.

Afterwards Monty did not refer to Tendulkar as his "rabbit". In fact he called him the "Prince of India" and spoke of his delight at that wicket, though his recollections were not so eloquent as the look of startled glee that froze on his face for at least two minutes after Tendulkar's demise.

Conditions amply justified the recall of Panesar to the team – even if his first ball did not. Like Graeme Swann and Samit Patel in Ahmedabad, Panesar's first ball of the series was an ugly full toss to Virender Sehwag, which was swatted like a troublesome fly to the midwicket boundary.

Often the first ball can set the pattern for the day, so perhaps it should be practised more diligently beforehand. Admittedly this would be a time-consuming process at training. It would be necessary to bowl one ball, pause for 15 minutes or so and then bowl another one and so on, to replicate the propulsion of that critical first delivery. A laborious process but it doesn't half help if the first ball of a spell is not a juicy full toss.

In this instance Panesar was able to recover from a flaky first over – and just the seventh of the match – which yielded nine runs. Just after drinks he benefited from Sehwag losing concentration and being bowled off his pads. This was a bonus from an innocuous delivery that was in stark contrast to the one in the next over that caused silence to descend upon the Wankhede Stadium.

In the afternoon Virat Kohli stubbed a drive to cover and Panesar even managed to induce Cheteshwar Pujara to give a sharp chance to Jimmy Anderson, standing too close in the gully; in the evening Dhoni's glove sent a gentler catch in that direction.

In all there were 34 overs from Panesar, mostly on target, mostly deliveries fizzed from those massive hands. He said he quite enjoyed taking the second new ball. He was obviously thrilled to be back.

He was cut a little too frequently; the odd full toss was clipped through midwicket. There were no mysteries but then there never are with Panesar, though he may have reduced his pace slightly in the afternoon. He was never cowed by formidable opponents.

Alastair Cook, who must surely find somewhere else to field – he cannot captain the side, open the batting and field at short-leg all day – recognised that his left-arm spinner was his best bet. Indeed this was a stout, impressive return to the team in Panesar's first outing for England since the Galle Test match in March. Moreover he will remember this match for years – but more, I guess, for Tendulkar's wicket than a famous English victory.