India vs England: Ben Stokes bowling return cannot prevent hosts building huge lead

Ben Stokes took a wicket with his first competitive delivery for eight months but could not prevent England sliding towards defeat by India on the second day of the fifth Test in Dharamsala.

By then, Rohit and Shubman Gill had a gone long way towards batting England out of the game, each making centuries as India piled on the runs in the morning session.

Rohit, who was dropped by Zak Crawley, made 103 and Gill 110 in a second-wicket partnership of 171.

Sarfaraz Khan and debutant Devdutt Padikkal both made half-centuries to push India’s lead towards 200, but England fought back well in the evening session.

Spinners Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley engineered an India slump of five wickets for 52 runs before Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah took the hosts to 473-8, leading by 255.

It is a prime position from which India can earn a huge victory and end the series as 4-1 winners.

England on brink after action-packed day

This had all the makings of a hard slog for England, and there certainly times when Rohit and Gill were together that it looked like being their most hopeless day at the end of a long tour.

No doubt India have batted themselves into a position where they could win by a massive margin, possibly as early as Saturday. The home side took every opportunity to attack England’s weary bowlers and were helped by some woeful boundary fielding.

In Stokes, England have the ultimate competitor and a long-teased return to bowling became a reality as he warmed up during the lunch break.

The captain barely celebrated when he produced the beauty to Rohit, but England were pumped when James Anderson bowled Gill in the next over to move to 699 Test wickets. At that stage, India were three down with a lead of 68 and England had a glimpse.

Sarfaraz and Padikkal snatched it away with a fourth-wicket stand of 97, and England could have been steamrollered in the glorious evening sunshine had it not been for the perseverance of their spinners and some gifts from the Indians.

By the end, though, England were left facing a battle just to make India bat again.

Rohit and Gill push on

India took control on day one, bowling England out for 218 and moving to 135-1 in response. When Rohit and Gill resumed the following morning, they made their intentions clear – Rohit hit Bashir for six in the third over, Gill did the same to Anderson in the fourth.

Rohit had 68 when he was missed by Crawley. Standing at leg slip, Crawley barely got a hand on one that Rohit turned off his hip from Bashir.

Gill was troubled by a pacey spell from Mark Wood, but kept attacking Bashir with two more sixes. Rohit reached his 12th Test hundred and Gill his fourth as 129 runs were scored in the morning session.

The Stokes-inspired double strike briefly checked India’s progress before Sarfaraz kicked into gear. He had only nine off 30 balls, but then raced to 50 from 55. At the other end, left-hander Padikkal played flowing strokes through the off side.

Sarfaraz was out for 56 and Padikkal for 65, both to Bashir just after tea. Scoring slowed almost to a standstill and at one stage Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin were out for the addition of only one run.

Kuldeep and Bumrah stopped the rot. Their runs were a bonus, but their real focus will be bowling India towards victory on day three.

Stokes headlines as spinners plug away

This was likely one last full day in the dirt for England. At times the punishment dished out by the India batters was incongruous with the surrounding beauty of the Himalayan mountains.

England were powerless as Rohit and Gill scored freely in the morning. Wood went at more than six an over, Anderson’s slow crawl towards 700 Test wickets advanced just one and the eight sixes Bashir was flogged for tied the record for an England bowler in a single Test innings.

But Stokes’ bowling return, his first spell for 251 days, was pure theatre. The delivery that got Rohit nipped away to take the top of off stump, ending a run of 28 consecutive wickets taken by spinners going back to the fourth Test.

Bashir had figures of 1-111 from his first 23 overs, yet was entrusted with the second new ball and repaid Stokes’ faith. Sarfaraz chopped to slip, Padikkal played around one to be bowled and Jurel could not resist lofting to long-on.

Hartley dovetailed nicely from the other end. Jadeja was pinned on the back foot and Ashwin was bowled as three wickets fell in the space of nine balls.

Bashir could have had a fifth right before the close. Kuldeep swept into his boot, gully Stokes dived in front of slip Joe Root, but could not cling on.

‘A heck of an effort’ – reaction

India batter Shubman Gill on TNT Sports: “I want to make big scores every time but I missed out on a big one today, I didn’t play properly to the ball I got out to.”

England spin coach Jeetan Patel on TNT: “To finish the day with them eight down, that’s a heck of an effort. There are a lot of tired guys in there and rightly so because they have put in such a shift.”

Former England spinner Phil Tufnell: “It has been a couple of great days for India. There is a mountain for England to climb. They did it in the first Test and that is what they’ve got to keep in the back of their mind. They can come back into it. The pitch is still playing alright.”

Former England bowler Steven Finn on TNT: “England’s spinners are learning on the job and they’ve done brilliantly. I don’t think this can be misconstrued that they’ve been sub-par because they haven’t.”