This India vs England series has been filled with lower order partnerships that have taken their respective teams out of seriously troubled waters, with the hosts in particular reaping the benefits of their bowlers showing great batsmanship. On day two of the fifth test match, it was England's turn again, as Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson put on a fairly calm, mostly serene and nicely-crafted eighth wicket alliance that took England to a big first innings total.
A wicket in the fifth ball of the day gave India and the Chennai crowd, well the Indian ones, the lift they needed, and while they picked up two more wickets in the first session, including the one of centurion Moeen Ali, the England lower order dug in quite brilliantly.
Replying to England's 477, KL Rahul and Parthiv Patel, opening the innings after keeping wickets for 157.2 overs owing to a shoulder injury to Murali Vijay, took India to 60 for no loss. With the wicket doing little to nothing, neither opener was troubled too much, and they will look to make most of this strong stand come day three morning.
India started just like they would have wanted, with R Ashwin getting Ben Stokes (6, 32b) in the first over and for the fifth time in this series. It was a perfect off-spinner, that drifted in, got the batsman forward, took the outside edge and landed in the gloves of wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel.
While the Stokes wicket was big, India would have known getting Moeen Ali, on a big score already, and Jos Buttler, who can score quickly and take that score past 400 before you know it, were also essential and the home team's pacers did just that.
Ishant Sharma nearly got Buttler (5, 17b) out lbw when he got one to slant in and his the batsman's pads, with India wasting a review when the ball was clearly hitting outside the line, but the fast bowler would get his man with a similar delivery, this one much more straighter and as plumb as they get.
India's plan for Moeen was to pepper him with short deliveries and let him make a mistake. And after a little spell from Ishant, Umesh cranked up the short ball pressure quite brilliantly, even landing a couple of body blows on the left-hander, before Moeen (146b, 262b, 13x4, 1x6), inevitably, pulled one straight to Ravindra Jadeja in the deep.
Seven down and with plenty still needed for 400 and beyond, England were in danger of putting up a disappointing score again, but Dawson, on debut, and Rashid put up a crucial partnership of 108 runs in 41.3 overs.
After the England No.8 and No.9 hung on till lunch, fighting the India momentum to go into the break with still hope of a decent first innings score, the two batsmen, Rashid in particular using his wrists to great effect, changed gears in the second session, picking up singles and twos at will, rarely looking troubled by the India bowlers and piling on the runs with every passing over.
With the partnership easing England past 400 and ever closer to 450, India, at last, got the breakthrough, as Rashid (60, 155b, 8x4) edged one through to Parthiv off Umesh.
India could not carve through the remaining two wickets, however, as Stuart Broad came in to stand strong with Dawson, a missed run out chance notwithstanding, and take England to 450 and more with a few attacking shots.
With more runs looking likely, India got a bit of luck as Broad was run out soon after tea after a mix-up with Dawson, but Jake Ball came in and smashed a couple and with Dawson (66 n.o., 148b, 5x4, 1x6) also looking for quick runs, India's frustration only grew. Amit Mishra, who bowled poorly all innings, however, ended England's innings with a googly that castled Ball (12, 18b, 1x6).
Scores: First innings: England: 477 all out in 157.2 overs.
Overnight score: 284/4 in 90 overs.
India: 60/0 in 20 overs, trail by 417 runs.
Batting in the middle: KL Rahul (30, 68b, 3x4) and Parthiv Patel (29, 52b, 2x4).
Bowling: First innings: India: Umesh Yadav 21-3-73-2; Ishant Sharma 21-6-42-2; Ravindra Jadeja 45-9-106-3; R Ashwin 44-3-151-1; Amit Mishra 25.2-5-87-1; Karun Nair 1-0-4-0.
England: Stuart Broad 5-2-6-0; Jake Ball 3-0-9-0; Moeen Ali 7-1-18-0; Ben Stokes 2-0-12-0; Adil Rashid 2-0-13-0; Liam Dawson 1-0-1-0.
Fall of wickets: First innings: England: 7/1, Keaton Jennings (5.2 overs); 21/2, Alastair Cook (12.4 overs); 167/3, Joe Root (54.3 overs); 253/4, Jonny Bairstow (81 overs); 287/5, Ben Stokes (90.5 overs); 300/6, Jos Buttler (96 overs); 321/7, Moeen Ali (103.4 overs); 429/8, Adil Rashid (145.1 overs); 455/9, Stuart Broad (153.1 overs); 477/10, Jake Ball (157.2 overs).
