Tea England 107 for 1 (Duckett 53*, Pope 48*, Bumrah 1-23) trail India 471 (Gill 147, Pant 134, Jaiswal 101, Stokes 4-66, Tongue 4-86) by 364 runs
Things looked ominous for England when their first innings began at 2:55pm, under gloomy clouds and a ground illuminated by the floodlights and a scoreboard beaming an imposing India total of 471.
When Jasprit Bumrah struck with his sixth delivery to remove Zak Crawley, the clear and present danger of one of the game's most devastating fast bowlers was apparent. But fast forward to his single over before tea and both Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope were still in situ, as they would be at the interval, walking with 53* and 48*, respectively. England sitting remarkably pretty on 107 for 1 from just 24 overs thanks to their 103-run stand.
Both, as it happens should and could have fallen to India's premier quick. After turning Crawley inside out with a delivery that swung in and then seamed away, taking the edge of an angled bat through to Karun Nair at first slip, Bumrah elicited similar from Pope. However England's No.3 was spared by the abscence of a fourth slip, allowing him to move beyond 10.
Duckett, however, was luckier, foolishly slapping a length delivery from Bumrah straight to Ravindra Jadeja at backward point. Somehow, a fielder of Jadeja's standing shelled a routine pouch to his right.
Duckett had 15 at the time, and did not necessarily do anything differently to move to a 19th fifty-plus score. Both he and Pope were able to indulge their natural pro-active streaks with a little less jeopardy against Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna, milked for 4.11 and 6.40 an over.
It spoke to the fact that, barring a change to atmospheric conditions brought about by a deluge that delayed play after lunch, this was still a fine batting deck. And while Rishabh Pant used it to peel off a sumptuous seventh Test hundred - going level with MS Dhoni with his sixth as India's wicketkeeper - the rest of the card could not follow.
Including the dismissal of Shubman Gill - the first to fall on day two after a resumption on 359 for 3 - India lost their last seven wickets for just 41 runs. Josh Tongue, who went wicketless for 16 overs on day one, was the main beneficiary, finishing with the very generous figures of 4 for 86. It was skipper Ben Stokes who was the pick of the bowlers, with 4 for 66, accounting for half of the top eight.