Given their first-day platform, India had the chance to push for 550 or much more. England’s nameless first hour, when Stokes selected to delay his personal entry into the assault, gave no clue of the collapse to return.
Pant, resuming on 65, planted off-spinner Shoaib Bashir for six. When he repeated the dose, this time with one hand off the bat, the left-hander reached his second Check ton since a life-threatening automotive crash in December 2022. Ever the showman, he celebrated with a somersault.
India have been in full management till captain Shubman Gill, who added 20 to maneuver to 147, needlessly clipped Bashir to Tongue at deep mid-wicket. From then on, the guests fell aside.
When Stokes lastly introduced himself on within the twelfth over of the day, he once more seemed a menace with tempo, a full size and swing. Karun Nair, in his first Check innings for eight years, drove to the flying Pope at quick cowl for a four-ball duck.
Tongue was poor on day one and ignored till 18 minutes earlier than lunch on day two. He discovered the identical motion as Stokes and received the essential wicket. Pant, who ought to have been stumped by Jamie Smith off Bashir, was befuddled into leaving a Tongue in-swinger that trapped him lbw.
The clouds gathered, the floodlights got here on and the lower-order didn’t resist. Shardul Thakur edged Stokes behind, Bumrah edged to second slip off Tongue, who then bowled each Jadeja and Prasidh Krishna. England took the final seven wickets in 68 balls.
