India continued to surge ahead through an unbroken 97-run stand between Sarfaraz Khan (56*) and Devdutt Padikkal (44*) as the lead swelled past the 150-run mark by tea on the second day of the fifth Test against England in Dharamsala. The two young batters got together after the centurion duo of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill had fallen in successive overs. With some reverse swing on offer, England were fancying their chances.
However, Padikkal got going with a flurry of boundaries - some streaky and some sweetly-timed - and the counterpunch took England by surprise. Meanwhile, Sarfaraz also opened up after a slow start, taking a special liking to England's spinners. He also played some audacious shots against pace - like a lofted straight drive and ramp against Wood. The duo's antics meant that the slender hope that England had of restricting India's lead was nipped in the bud. The session started with Gill taking Anderson apart from a couple of boundaries to signal India's intent.
England needed a spark of inspiration and as he so often does, Ben Stokes provided just that. Bowling for the first time in the series, it took just one ball for England's skipper to break the partnership as he castled his counterpart Rohit with an absolute peach - the delivery straightening ever so slightly after the inward angle to disturb the off pole. Anderson then had his revenge over Gill with a nip-backer that went past the latter's lazy poke to be beaten on the inside edge. From wondering when their next wicket would come to bagging both set batters in successive overs, England had found hope, only for Padikkal and Sarfaraz to quash them.
Brief scores: England 218 (Zak Crawley 79; Kuldeep Yadav 5-72, Ravichandran Ashwin 4-51) trail India 376/3 (Shubman Gill 110, Rohit Sharma 103, Yashasvi Jaiswal 57, Sarfaraz Khan 56*) by 158 runs
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