Whew. India have their work cut out in the fourth Test in Mumbai. And Jos Buttler may have made it a little tougher.

Not to say, Virat Kohli’s bowlers were not up to the mark. England resumed at 288/5 on the second day and lost wickets quickly. Ben Stokes, who had looked positive, was adjudged to have nicked to slip, though there was a bit of controversy. The umpire had declared Stokes not out, but Kohli reviewed. While the Ultra-Edge showed a spike, the bat had hit the ground at the same time. But there were enough signs of an edge, which meant the decision to give him out could not be called incorrect. It was also Ashwin’s fifth wicket in the innings, taking him to 23 five-wicket hauls, level with Kapil Dev.

Then it was Ravindra Jadeja who took over. He first had Chris Woakes edging behind in a perfect left-arm spinner’s dismissal. Then, in a brilliant over to Adil Rashid, he got each delivery to spin away, except the last one. Poor Rashid shouldered arms expecting the ball to turn away but it only crashed into the stumps, giving Jadeja his third wicket.

But, in between all this, it was Jos Buttler who kept India at bay. On a difficult surface, facing the best spinners in the world, he was busy and industrious. He used his reverse-sweep to good effect and did not mind using his feet. It worked. Buttler got to a very well-deserved half-century and pushed England’s score beyond 350. At the end of the session, the score read 386/8. If England’s spinners can replicate their Indian counterparts, India’s batsmen will have a tough time.

Brief scores:

England 386/8 (Keaton Jennings 112, Jos Buttler 64 not out; Ravichandran Ashwin 5/102, Ravindra Jadeja 3/105) vs India