Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets while Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav took one each as India moved to within three wickets of winning the second Test against England at lunch on Day 4. If India manages to win this match, it will level the series with England, which won the first test match at MA Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk, Chennai.
England captain Joe Root stood strong and was on 33 runs off 90 balls at lunch but his team mates struggled to stick with him as India's spinners ran riot. Lawrence was dismissed early in the session due to some smart bowling from Ashwin and sharp work behind the stumps by Rishabh Pant.
Ben Stokes and Joe Root then faced 77 balls as they looked to conserve wickets and rebuild the innings but the former finally fell to Ashwin on eight runs off 51 balls. Ashwin, thus, has scalped Ben Stokes 10 times so far in his Test career. Axar then snagged the wicket of Ollie Pope after which wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Foakes, who was England's highest scorer in the first innings, was dismissed off what was the last ball of the session by Kuldeep.
If Ashwin takes two more wickets, he would earn the rare distinction of having taken ten wickets and a century in a single test match. Earlier, Ashwin’s gutsy 106 off 148 balls along with Virat Kohli's near flawless 62 off 149 balls got India to a more than decent 286 in 85.5 overs, leaving England with an improbable target of 482 runs on a dust bowl.
Brief scores: India 329 & 286 (Ravichandran Ashwin 106, Virat Kohli 62; Moeen Ali 4/98) vs England 134 & 116/7 (Joe Root 33 batting, Dan Lawrence 26; Axar Patel 3/41, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/42).
(With PTI and IANS inputs)