Despite the first Test match between India and England ending in a somewhat drab draw, there is a lot of promise and encouragement to take from the match for both sides.

While England and India are currently struggling under captains who are fighting for their futures, the first encounter of the series was largely effected by a placid pitch.

Focussing on the positives we can take from the Test, here are five players who managed to make an impact in the game.

Joe Root 

If there's one reason India is not leading the series 1-0, it is this man.

The youngster batted beautifully along with the England tail, especially James Anderson, to score an unbeaten 153 in the first innings and somehow give his team a lead that helped them stay in the match.

Root is undoubtedly the player of the match from England's point of view.

James Anderson 
Like all England vs India games, this series started off with controversies.

The center stage of all talk during the Test match was the sub continent-like pitch which was nothing like what either teams had expected to see on arrival at Trent Bridge.

Despite that, James Anderson, who carries the torch for England’s bowling attack, lived up to his reputation with a stunning spell in the first innings.

As icing on the cake, he went on to score 81 with the bat, a record for an England number 11.

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar 
With the conditions favouring swing in England, many people would have put their money on Bhuvaneshwar to perform.

He did bowl well in the first innings, being India's most economical bowler, but what followed surprised many observers.

After picking up a five-for, he smashed two fifties at crucial moments to keep the visitors in the game when they were facing a shock loss on the last day.

Murali Vijay 
After facing a lot of flack from the Indian press and fans over his selection in the side, Murali Vijay had to come up with something special to silence the critics.

He did silence them, and how! The Chennai boy played a well-composed innings up front in India’s first innings that set the tone for the match.

His ton was followed by a half century in the second innings which assured him of a spot in the second match where he will want to carry his form into the next match as well.

MS Dhoni 
The Indian captain had come into this series with the intention of putting the demons of 2011’s 4-0 defeat behind him and he almost did that in some style in Nottingham.

From picking Stuart Bunny over Ravichandran Ashwin to that gutsy captain's knock in the first innings, he got a lot of things right.