Yashasvi Jaiswal confirmed his status as Indian cricket's rising star with a stunning first home century, but late wickets kept England firmly in touch on the opening day of the Second Test in Vizag.
On a gorgeous batting track, a first Test wicket for debutant Shoaib Bashir and a 691st for the recalled James Anderson had the tourists content with their work at lunch, England hoping to take advantage of a depleted India to extend their 1-0 series lead.
The afternoon and evening, though, were Jaiswal's, the opener unbeaten on 179 and India on top at 336 for six at the close of play.
Jaiswal enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2023, sparkling in the Indian Premier League and then making 171 on Test debut in the West Indies, but this is his first series on native soil and already the 22-year-old is on the brink of putting that maiden innings in the shade.
At the close, though, England are well in the fight, not least because of the knowledge that a 190-run first innings lead proved insufficient for India in the series-opener a week ago. Bashir's second wicket — of Axar Patel late in the day — had the hosts five-down and KS Bharat then followed to open up a long tail, with the absences of Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul through injury forcing India into a reshuffle.
On announcing his team and winning the toss, captain Rohit Sharma had called for a change in attitude, having watched his teammates succumb in tame fashion to Tom Hartley in the face of an awkward, but hardly unfathomable fourth-innings chase in the series opener.
The opener, though, did not exactly lead by example, blunted in an uncharacteristic innings of 41 balls without a boundary before prodding around the corner to the electric Ollie Pope, whose leg-slip grab brought Bashir one of cricket's most prized scalps as his first in the international game.
The 20-year-old's celebration was, unsurprisingly, one of some gusto, fists clenched and a roar sent skywards. It was not really a moment a long-time coming, this only the spinner's seventh first-class outing, but having missed the First Test flying back to London last week amid a grim visa farce, it must have felt like one all the same.
Anderson, meanwhile, had not played any competitive cricket since the end of an Ashes series in which time at last seemed to be chipping away, four Tests against the Australians bringing only five wickets. A streak in his hair and a spring back in his step, though, the 42-year-old looked as fit and as fierce as ever, finding the edge off Shubman Gill on 34 to claim a Test wicket for the 22nd consecutive calendar year, and the first for English seamers in the series.
Gill, now in danger of being outpaced by Jaiswal in the sprint towards Virat Kohli's not-yet-vacant throne, had again batted nicely before succumbing without kicking on, in what, in the longest format, has become a worrying trend: he is now without a half-century in 12 innings since the start of June, despite reaching double-figures in nine of those knocks.
Jaiswal, by contrast, batted with absolute conviction, the tempo that had slowed either side of lunch upped when an edged four wide of slip was followed without pause by two further boundaries off Hartley as he charged into the eighties.
It had been Jaiswal who had launched the spinner’s first ball in Test cricket for six in Hyderabad, and while Hartley’s redemption has since put a softer tint on the harshness of that introduction, similar treatment was on offer here. Galloping down the track, the opener despatched his rival high over long-on to reach three figures in brutal style.
Into an evening session that - remarkably - saw a day of Test cricket run beyond its allotted, but seldom achieved, minimum of 90 overs, Jaiswal continued to purr, a series of lofted drives over cover particularly exquisite as runs flowed freely.
England, though, continued to chip away. Before tea, a moment of brilliance from Foakes had seen off Shreyas Iyer, the ‘keeper’s low take of an under-edge emphasising his value on a surface that placed half-chances at a premium.
The other side of the interval, Rehan Ahmed - strangely unused until the 60th over - struck twice and held Axar Patel off Bashir to ensure the onus will be on Jaiswal to swell his score even further on day two.
