England bowled India out for 488 on the fourth afternoon, to give themselves a slim 49 run advantage, before consolidating and finishing the day 163 ahead.
It took 8 overs to make the breakthrough in the morning session, with Ajinkya Rahane misjudged and was bowled by Zafar Ansari for 13. The tourist's luck increased further when danger-man Virat Kohli stepped onto his own stumps when going back to Adil Rashid to give England an opening at 361-6.
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| Ajinkya Rahane is bowled in the morning session. Credit - The Guardian |
However another important half-century from Ravi Ashwin and support from the lower-order cut away at the deficit before Ashwin was the last man out for 70, caught at deep mid-wicket to finish the Indian innings.
As England's second innings got underway, Alistair Cook and Haseeb Hameed controlled the scoring to push England's lead past 150 and their partnership to 114 without losing either of their wickets, setting up an intriguing morning on day 5.
With England's middle-order packed with one-day batsmen, setting up a chase with enough time to win the match would be easily achieved, but on a ground making its test debut, an exact total to force a win would be difficult to figure out.
If England do bat all morning, would that leave enough time to bowl the host's out?
With the pitch not breaking up or being as helpful to the spinning ball as the majority of Indian pitches have been in the past, England would have to back their bowling attack to rip through the Indian batting line-up in almost a third of the time it took them in the first innings.
An interesting day five awaits with England surely in the driving seat.
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