England opener Ben Duckett scored a scintillating unbeaten 133 as England finished at 207/2, in response to India’s score of 445 at the end of Day 2 of the third test in Rajkot on Friday.
Resuming at 326/5, James Anderson drew first blood by snaring the wicket of nightwatchman Kuldeep Yadav (4) caught behind the stumps. Ravindra Jadeja then chipped a return catch to Joe Root for a fine 112.
Ravi Ashwin and debutant Dhruv Jurel kept the visitors at bay by adding 77 runs for the eight wicket stand before the former (37) was caught at mid-on while trying to take on Rehan Ahmed.
Jurel fell four runs short of his fifty, as he nicked a length delivery from Ahmed, while attempting a late cut.
Jasprit Bumrah (26) was the last man to be dismissed leg before wicket as India were bowled for 445.
Mark Wood was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets.
England started their innings at 5/0 after India were penalized five runs for running on the wicket. The pair of Duckett and Zak Crawley put on 89 runs for the opening stand before the latter top edged a sweep and gave a simple catch to give Ravi Ashwin his 500th test wicket.
Left hander Duckett was involved in an 93 run stand for the second wicket alongside Ollie Pope before the latter was dismissed leg before wicket by Mohammed Siraj for 39.
At the end of Day 2, England finished at 207/2, with Duckett (133)* and Root (9) unbeaten at the crease.
England 207 for 2 (Duckett 133*, Root 9*) trail India 445 (Rohit 131, Jadeja 112, Sarfaraz 62) by 238 runs