Ollie Pope and all rounder Chris Woakes scored respective half centuries as England fought their way back into the contest by taking a slender lead of 99 at the end of Day 2 of the fourth test at Oval on Friday.
Umesh Yadav on Day 2, got the visitors off to a fantastic start by dismissing nightwatchman Craig Overton and Dawid Malan leaving the hosts in spot of bother at 62/5.
The pair of Pope and Jonny Bairstow brought the innings back on track with a valuable 89 run stand for the sixth wicket. Mohammed Siraj provided the much needed breakthrough by trapping the latter leg before wicket for 37.
Moeen Ali along with the 23 year old Surrey batsman frustrated the Indian bowlers with a 71 run stand for the seventh wicket.
The former had a lucky escape as a yorker from Jasprit Bumrah hit him on the toe and would have gone to hit the stumps. But India failed to take the review, thinking it was an inside edge.
The left hander finally perished to Jadeja, hitting one straight up in the air.
Pope missed out on a well-deserved hundred when he bottom-edged a Shardul Thakur delivery onto his stumps for a brilliant 81.
Woakes in the end smashed a breezy 50 before being run out as the hosts were bowled out for 290, giving their side a handy lead of 99.
Umesh Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for India with figures of 3/76, while Jasprit Bumrah and left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja claimed two wickets each.
Indian opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul gave India a solid start, with the visitors at 43/0, with 56 runs behind at the close of play.
Sharma however had a lucky escape in the third over as a mix up up between Rory Burns and Overton gave him a let-off.
Stumps at the end of Day 2
England 290 all out- ( Ollie Pope 81, Chris Woakes 50. Umesh Yadav 3/76, Ravi Jadeja 2/36, Jasprit Bumrah 2/67) vs India second innings 43/0- (Rohit Sharma 20*, KL Rahul 22*) with 56 runs behind.