In a contest that has so far been dominated by bad weather, a deluge of wickets on this second day saw Virat Kohli’s shell-shocked tourists dismissed for just 107.
Anderson’s haul of 5-20, that leaves him just one wicket short of becoming the first bowler to take 100 in Tests at Lord’s, did the majority of the damage.
But the 36-year-old swing bowler was ably assisted by Chris Woakes, whose spell of 2-19 in an extended final session included the key scalp of India skipper Kohli.
It means that despite a first-day washout, Joe Root’s team, 1-0 up after winning last week’s first Test at Edgbaston, have a genuine chance of victory here even though just 35.2 overs have been bowled so far in this match.
With the forecast set fair for Saturday, it will be the turn of England’s batsmen to drive home the advantage given to them by their bowlers on a day where there were two stoppages for rain spanning more than five hours.
This was a day in three parts – all interspersed by showers – with the first dominated by Anderson, the second by a horrendous run-out of Cheteshwar Pujara and the third by Woakes and Anderson again.
This second day may have begun in bright sunshine. Yet it lasted only 31 minutes before the weather intervened.
In the 6.3 overs possible it was Anderson, swinging the new ball with almost absurd ease, who struck twice.
The first was the result of an absolutely stunning away swinger that bowled Murali Vijay off the fifth ball of the day. The second saw KL Rahul, deceived by late away swing, caught behind. As the heavens opened, India were 11-2.
After a delay of more than two hours, the players returned for 12 balls, during which Kohli and Pujara groped around trying to find the ball as Anderson and Stuart Broad terrorised them under leaden skies.
Kohli, in particular, seemed reluctant to face Anderson, a bowler who dismissed him four times during India’s last tour of England in 2014.
In the first over back, Kohli, off strike, refused an easy single called by Pujara. Such scrambled thinking then did for Pujara after India’s No3 set off for a single in Anderson’s next over.
A reticent Kohli originally ran and then, with his partner almost at the other end, sent him back. It left Pujara stranded as Ollie Pope, presented with his Test cap by Alec Stewart in the morning, started his debut with a simple run out.
The wicket, which left India 15-3, prompted a downpour so heavy the rest of the players sprinted off the field and overtook a crestfallen Pujara on the boundary rope.
England were then forced to wait more than three hours before getting a third crack at India at 5.10pm. It was worth the wait, though, as Root’s men took control of this stop-start Test.
Woakes, back after thigh and knee injuries that have so far blighted his summer, started the carnage after he had Kohli caught on 23 by Jos Buttler at second slip just one ball after the same man had dropped him.
Amazingly, the same thing happened with the fall of India’s fifth wicket, Buttler again spurning a chance in the cordon off Woakes to spare Hardik Pandya before grasping the second edge the very next delivery.
Sam Curran, the 20-year-old all-rounder who was man of the match at Edgbaston, then came to the party to bowl Dinesh Karthik with a beautiful in-swinger.
Anderson struck twice in quick succession to remove Ajinkya Rahane and Kuldeep Yadav before Broad trapped Ravi Ashwin lbw.
It was then left to Anderson to have the final say as he capped a stunning day with the final wicket of Ishant Sharma to leave India in complete disarray.