When he was on 61, he was dropped twice in quick succession by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha in the morning session. On 90, he got a big top edge while trying to slog-sweep Ravindra Jadeja, but the skier fell just inches away from the hands of a diving Virat Kohli, who had sprinting to take it from midwicket, when Murali Vijay at long-on could perhaps have reached it if the Indian captain had not called for it. On 104, his inside edge off Ravichandran Ashwin's delivery was too quick for Saha to read. On 110, he went for another slog and Vijay at long-on could not keep the ball in play while taking the catch, and conceded a six. In between all these chances, he survived a few close run-out opportunities.

Ben Stokes has had his share of luck in this first Test, en route to his fourth Test century, but then he has made most of it too. The all-rounder, who is already being touted as the next Ian Botham – more than Andrew Flintoff ever was – played an entertaining knock, where he took on the three-pronged Indian spin attack with the only style of batting known to him: attack. This wasn't as good as his 258 in Cape Town earlier this year, but equally effective in terms of taking his team to a total from where they cannot lose. Whether India will be able to match England with the bat as South Africa had done in that match is still anyone's guess, but Stokes has helped England lay down the marker in this series, one they were expected to lose 5-0.

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The shots were all around the park and on both front and back foot. Stokes never allowed the Indian spinners, nor pacers for that matter, to settle into their groove. When he realised he was running out of partners after Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid fell in the space of 23 runs, he became even more frenetic, switching to one-day mode and going for the scoops to fine-leg. Then, when he realised that No 9 Zafar Ansari was looking comfortable, he switched off for a while, regaining some energy, knowing he would have to bowl at some point in the day in temperatures north of 30 degrees Celsius. Finally, with two minutes to go before tea, he looked to work Umesh Yadav down to fine-leg, but only found an edge and gave a simple catch to Saha. His vigil had ended at 128 and he had finally broken his duck against India, in some style, before England were soon bowled out for 537.

As India stared at a mammoth deficit, something they are not used to in their own backyard, they would know that England could have been bowled out for much cheaper had the hosts taken all their chances. At least five catches had been dropped in the innings and they had had even more chances of taking a wicket. The pressure is now well on India's five full-time batsmen, more so on home boy Cheteshwar Pujara, who would know these conditions the best out of all of them. A win, and in effect that expected 5-0, is out of the picture. India would do really well to go into Vizag for the second Test with the score still tied 0-0.

Brief score:

England 537 (Ben Stokes 128, Joe Root 124, Moeen Ali 117; Ravindra Jadeja 3/86, Mohammed Shami 2/65, R Ashwin 2/167) vs India.