As Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill walked out in the middle on a sunny Friday morning, their intentions were clear - allow none of the England bowlers to settle.
After a quiet first over, Rohit began his onslaught with a six and a boundary off Shoaib Bashir, and Gill joined in with some back foot strokes. Time and again, as the England spinners faltered in length, Gill danced down the track for some big hits.
He lofted Bashir over the long-off for a six and brought up his 4000 first-class runs, and a while later, the young spinner was again at the receiving end as Gill walloped him over the deep mid-wicket amid huge cheers from the crowd. He also looked comfortable against Mark Wood and effortlessly hit him for four boundaries between the 38th and the 42nd over.
Unable to tame the two, England opted for the short ball strategy. However, that did not have an impact as both Rohit (103, 162b, 13x4, 3x6) and Gill (110, 150b, 12x4, 5x6) raced to their centuries to maintain India’s dominance. The host overcame late strikes by Bashir and Tom Hartley to end the day at 473 for 8, extending its lead to 255 runs.
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In the day’s final session, the pitch showed signs of variable bounce and big turn as India lost three wickets for just one run - that too within nine deliveries. But, by then, the lead had swelled up for the home team.
Barring that session, India dominated as its top-five batters crossed the fifty-run mark.
En route to their 171-run partnership for the second wicket, Rohit hooked and pulled at will, making merry against Mark Wood, whereas Gill - true to his reputation - put his front leg across for a slog-sweep and smacked it over the unmanned square-leg to bring up his fourth Test century.
However, in the early minutes of the second session, England made the most of some reverse swing on offer and found breakthroughs. Ben Stokes, bowling for the first time since July last year, started his over with an unplayable delivery to castle Rohit.
James Anderson clinched his 699th wicket in the next over, rattling Gill’s stumps.
Those two quick wickets rejuvenated the England cricketers and their fans for a while.
Their excitement, however, was short-lived as debutant Devdutt Padikkal and Sarfaraz Khan got together to forge a crucial 97-run stand for the fourth wicket. Not for a moment, Padikkal looked under pressure as he got underway with a flurry of boundaries. At the other end, Sarfaraz, who debuted earlier in the series, opened up after a slow start to complete another half-century.
As the Mumbai-based batter hit out at the spinners, the stage looked set for him to convert into a three-digit score. However, in the first delivery of Bashir, post tea, Sarfaraz was caught at slips by Root.
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Padikkal brought up his half-century a while later, lofting Bashir over his head to become the second Indian to get to a fifty-plus score on Test debut at No. 4 after Gundappa Viswanath in 1969. However, Bashir bowled out Padikkal, resulting in India losing momentum again.
As Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin fell in quick successions, things could have gone awry for India had Kuldeep Yadav (27 batting, 55b, 2x4) and Jasprit Bumrah (19 batting, 55b, 2x4) not stepped up with an unbeaten 45-run stand.
After a five-for with the ball the other day, Kuldeep looked determined with the willow, as he tackled the England spinners comfortably to ensure there was no further slip-up.
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