Debutant all-rounder Liam Dawson and leg spinner Adil Rashid helped England post a sizeable first innings total of 477 in Chennai.
After a slow start by England with the loss of three early wickets, Dawson and Rashid came together and put on an imposing partnership.
With the score at 321 for 7, the pair combined to put on 108 runs and give England a fighting chance of restoring some pride in the final Test of a series in which they trail 3-0. In reply, India finished the day on 60-0.
After close of play, Moeen Ali, who took his score to 146, admitted it would be a “tough challenge” to take 20 Indian wickets in order to force an England victory.
Talking about his innings, Ali said: “This year has gone well, to get four hundreds I am pretty pleased with that. I am pleased with the hundred to get England out of a little bit of a hole at the start and what matters is that I got the 146.
“They are a very good side and they play spin very well. There’s not much for the seamers so we are going to have to bowl well to bowl them out twice.”
England didn’t have the start they would have looked for. Ashwin bowled one a little wide which was always spinning away from Ben Stokes as he tried to reach for it. A thin edge, and Stokes was safely caught by Parthiv Patel in the first over of the day for six. It was the fifth time that Ashwin had captured the wicket of the Durham all-rounder in the series.
A fired up Ishant Sharma then trapped Jos Buttler lbw in front of the stumps for five as he looked to play aggressively across the line.
Sharma brought the Indians to life in the field by repeatedly testing yesterday’s centurion Moeen Ali with the short ball.
The combative Umesh Yadav joined in the contest, reaching speeds of over 90mph as he pinned Ali on the back foot.
In the end, it was another short ball from Yadav that accounted for Ali with Jadeja taking the catch at deep square leg. Ali had scored 146 off 262 balls.
Dawson and Rashid then set about rebuilding the innings. Both batsmen looked to get in line and showed skill in playing each delivery on its merits.
Rashid used his wrists effectively and worked the ball into gaps, which agitated captain Virat Kohli and forced constant changes to be made in the field. The Yorkshire all-rounder showed great temperament and went on to score his second test fifty, as well as bringing up the much needed 100 partnership from 235 balls.
The Yorkshire leg-spinner eventually edged a full Yadav delivery outside off stump, which was safely taken by Patel. He had scored 60 from 144 balls.
Shortly afterwards, Hampshire debutant Dawson reached his half-century off 121 deliveries, becoming the ninth batsman to make a fifty on debut for England.
England had dominated the second session with Dawson (55*) and Stuart Broad (17*) easing England towards 500.
Shortly after tea, Broad was run out having taken off for a third run. Rahul threw in sharply from the fine-leg boundary, leaving the Nottinghamshire man stranded on 19.
Jake Ball looked to play some shots but the Nottinghamshire man was bowled by an Amit Mishra googley for 12.
Dawson's 66* came off 148 balls, the highest score by an England number eight on debut, surpassing David Bairstow’s 59 against India at the Oval in 1979.
An all-Nottinghamshire partnership of Broad and Ball opened the bowling, but Indian openers Rahul and stand-in opener Patel, with Murali Vijay having earlier left the field injured during England’s innings, looked untroubled.
Rahul drove confidently in reaching 30 off 68 balls, while Patel looked equally confident, ending the day on 28 off 52 deliveries.
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