Captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill's stunning hundreds gave India complete control of the fifth Test against England despite a late batting collapse that saw the hosts end day two on Friday at 473 for eight. India lost as many as five wickets for 97 runs in the final session after Rohit (103 off 162 balls) and Gill (110 off 150 balls) shared a partnership of 171 runs off 244 balls for the second wicket. Debutant Devdutt Padikkal (65 off 103) showed plenty of class in his debut innings, while Sarfaraz Khan (56 off 60) was guilty of throwing away his first wicket ball after tea. The home side, who started the day at 135 for one, led England by 255 runs at stumps. Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir (4/170 in 44 overs), who was taken to the cleaners by the Indian openers, bounced back strongly to take three wickets in the final session. Left-arm spinner Tom Hartley (2/126 in 39) was also impressive towards the end of the day, while Mark Wood (0/89 in 15) was the most expensive.
The pitch remains good for batting and at 376 for three at tea, India looked set to knock England out of the match before a combination of good bowling and reckless batting kept the visitors alive in the match.
India were scoring almost 4.5 runs per over until they slowed down considerably in the final session.
Kuldeep Yadav turned the ball much more than his fellow Indian spinners on day one, but after a tough time in the first two sessions on day two, Bashir and Co. much from the surface.
Sarfaraz tried to cut a harmless ball from Bashir and eventually gave an easy catch to Joe Root at first slip. Padikkal got a gem from the England off-spinner who turned away from middle stump and hit the top of the off-stump. Like Sarfaraz, Dhruv Jurel (15) also went for an avoidable shot and was killed.
After lunch, England captain Ben Stokes bowled Rohit Sharma off his first ball in nine months to give the visitors some cheer.
But Sarfaraz and Padikkal then came together again and kept the points flowing for the home side.
Stokes, who had only bowled in the nets so far, finally decided to roll his arm in a match situation after England had not cared in the morning session. He had retired from bowling due to a knee injury and had undergone surgery the previous year.
Bowling the second over of the afternoon session, Stokes produced a peach that zoomed away a bit of good length to dislodge Rohit's off-stump.
In the next over, James Anderson Gill bowled a beauty that came back in, leaving India at 279 for three.
In his debut match, Padikkal's offside stood out as he treated the crowd to beautiful backfoot strikes and cover drives.
Sarfaraz, on the other hand, started slowly before switching against both pace and spin. What attracted the most attention was his attacking play against Mark Wood's express pace.
His play against fast bowlers has been questioned but Sarfaraz was razor sharp on Friday as he sent Wood out for a lofted back drive before pulling him for a six over backward square leg. He also played a ramp shot from Wood using the extra pace and bounce he generated.
In the morning, skipper Rohit and Gill hit hundreds as India increased their lead in the match by reaching 264 for one at lunch.
Rohit and Gill walked out in the middle in the bright sunshine and milked the conditions to take India well past England's first innings total of 218.
England tried everything to contain them, be it the leg-slip for Rohit when Bashir was in action, or Wood using a single short ball against the unbeaten duo overnight with as many as six fielders on the leg side.
However, nothing helped for the visitors despite the Barmy Army making much more noise compared to Indian fans at the beautiful HPCA Stadium. Rohit and Gill amassed 129 runs from 30 overs in the two hours of play.
Rohit and Gill gave themselves an over after the start of the game before going for their strokes.
Off-spinner Bashir opened the bowling alongside Anderson and was put under immense pressure by Rohit, who dropped him for a straight six and a four in his second over to set the tone.
Gill, who played some daring shots on the opening day, continued in similar vein as he took two steps forward against the big Anderson for a straight six, which was followed by a square cut.
The only real chance England had during the session came begging when Zak Crawley failed to convert a sharp catch from Rohit at leg slip.
Wood resorted to short-ball tactics against the well-formed duo, but that didn't work either.
Rohit completed his 12th Test hundred and second of the series by singled to Tom Hartley.
Two balls later, Gill followed him into three figures by beating Bashir for a four. After completing his second ton of the series, Gill removed his helmet and bowed to the spectators in the stands, including his proud father Lakhwinder.
Topics mentioned in this article