England enjoyed a great chancing at putting pressure on India after giving Kohli’s team 310 to chase in 49 overs but ceded the advantage by dropping two chances. India went into tea at 49/2, still another 261 runs short and though the match looks likely to end in a draw, England could have made their chances much better by taking their chances.

At the start of the session, Cook and Stokes took the attack to India’s bowlers, slamming a hapless Amit Mishra for three boundaries in one over. The lead inched over 300 and the declaration arrived soon after Alastair Cook holed out for a very well-made 130.

England’s opening combination of Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad looked fired up and India were kept on zero for the first three overs with Woakes accounting for Gautam Gambhir who edged to slip. But just after Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara played some confident shots to steer the nerves away, England’s much-vaunted fielding gave way, just adding to the number of missed chances in this Test match.

First Murali Vijay skipped down the track and absolutely smashed one back at left-arm spinner Zafar Ansari. The ball was coming fast but at a good height and really should have been caught. Unfortunately, it rebounded off Ansari’s hands and ricocheted off to the boundary.

Two overs later, it was Broad who dropped a sitter. It was Ansari who again who got Pujara beaten in flight as he reached out for a drive, only to get a leading edge. The ball looped up but Broad made a complete mess of it falling forward and dropping the catch.

Thankfully for Broad, it was Rashid who got Pujara on the stroke of tea, dismissing him leg-before-wicket. The Rajkot boy walked off without a review which in hindsight was not the best decision: the ball had pitched outside leg. The match may well end in a draw, but England have set up an interesting last session.

Brief scores:

England 537 (Ben Stokes 128, Joe Root 124, Moeen Ali 117; Ravindra Jadeja 3/86, Mohammed Shami 2/65, R Ashwin 2/167) and 260/3 declared (Alastair Cook 130, Haseeb Hameed 92; Amit Mishra 2/60) lead India 488 (Murali Vijay 126, Cheteshwar Pujara 124; Adil Rashid 4/114, Zafar Ansari 2/77, Moeen Ali 2/85) and 49/2 (Murali Vijay 29 not out; Adil Rashid 1/5) by 261 runs.