Ben Stokes made a stunning 124 and Moeen Ali took his overnight 99 to 117 as England racked up a mammoth total of 537.
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| Ben Stokes walks off after scoring 128. Credit - The Guardian |
India finished the day 63-0 without giving any real chances, emphasizing the enormous task left to the tourists to take 20 wickets on this pitch.
Stokes shared stands with Ali and Johnny Bairstow worth 62 and 99 respectively, before the loss of Bairstow led to a mini collapse in England's lower order. However, Zafar Ansari stuck around and Stokes moved to his century, before Ansari was last man out for 32.
Stuart Broad, having had his feet up for the majority of the first five sessions of his 100th test, was tasked with finding a breakthrough for his side after tea. But the flatness of the pitch, plus some average bowling that either strayed too wide or too straight allowed Murali Vijay and Gautam Gambhir to make it to the close of play unscathed.
After Joe Roots hundred yesterday, Moeen and Stokes' efforts made it the first time England have scored three hundreds in an innings in India since 1961,
Early wickets on day three can give England a massive chance of ending India's fourteen match unbeaten streak at home.
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