A superlative spell of swing bowling from Jasprit Bumrah put India in complete control against England on day two of the second Test in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
Bumrah ripped through England's middle order at the ACA-VDCA Stadium to finish with 6-45, his best figures on home soil and third best of his Test career.
The tourists were looking strong on 114-1 in reply to India's 396 before Bumrah took charge claiming the wickets of first Test hero Ollie Pope (23), Joe Root (5), Jonny Bairstow (25) and captain Ben Stokes (47).
He then swept up the England tail of Tom Hartley (21) and James Anderson (6) as Stokes' side were bowled out for 253, still 143 behind India's total.
Openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal were unbeaten at stumps after adding a brisk 28 runs to leave their team 171 runs ahead with 10 wickets remaining.
Earlier, Jaiswal had completed a magnificent double century before finally falling to James Anderson for 209 as India were bowled out for 396 – a total many felt was short of what was required on a good batting surface.
But Bumrah was to blow those concerns out of the water with a stunning performance with the ball that puts India on course to level the five-match series after losing a thrilling first Test in Hyderabad.
“Yes, always enjoy getting the rewards,” he said to TNT Sports. "When you play in India, reverse swing plays an important role and learning to play cricket here, you get a good understanding of how to use it to your advantage. So yeah, there is no better feeling.
“If you want to take wickets as a fast [bowler] in India, you have got to learn to use reverse swing because the new ball doesn't always do much for you.
“As a child, I grew up watching legendary bowlers using it to bowl magical deliveries and it really inspired me. It is something that I practised a lot, learning to set up the batters and making it a strength of mine.
“Sometimes you can try to force the magical deliveries but it's also about being patient and setting the batter up over time. You have to have a plan and use every delivery wisely. I was very happy to execute today and happy to contribute on that pitch.”
Earlier, it was England who might have been feeling the more confident after taking India's last four wickets for 60 with veteran Anderson producing his own bowling masterclass.
The 41-year-old bowled eight overs unchanged as he claimed 2-17 – including the wicket of 22-year-old Jaiswal – to finish with figures of 3-47.
Jaiswal stunning knock came off 257 balls, contained 17 fours and five sixes in an innings that spanned across four sessions.
He became the third youngest player – at 22 years 37 days – to hit a double century for India after Sunil Gavaskar – 21 years 277 days against West Indies in 1971 – and Vinod Kambli – 21 years 32 days against England in 1993.
England started their replay in typically aggressive fashion with India's bowlers going for six an over until Ben Duckett fell to Kuldeep Yadav’s wrist spin on 21.
Zak Crawley continued the onslaught and looked on course to be celebrating a century on his 26th birthday as he raced to an almost run-a-ball 76.
But the opener would end up tempted into one big shot too many by left-armer Axar Patel, miscuing to point where Shreyas Iyer took a difficult catch.
With the ball reversing, it was now time for the Bumrah show. It took him only five balls to send Root back to the pavilion ash he poked an edge to Shubman Gill.
Six balls later came the show-stopper with a fizzing in-swinging yorker that demolished the stumps of Pope, who scored a breathtaking 196 in Hyderabad.
Bairstow was next to fall, also edging to Gill at slip, while Stokes' quick-fire 47 was ended by a Bumrah ball that stayed low and flattened his off-stump.
Only Hartley wagged in the England tail as Kuldeep Yadav and Bumrah cleaned up to leave the tourists with a mountain to climb.
“They played very well, obviously Jaiswal played an unbelievable innings and Bumrah was very, very good,” Crawley said to TNT Sports. "He bowled some unplayable balls.
“I feel like we are still in the game massively. We back ourselves to chase a score on the fourth or fifth day.
“Our approach won't change, despite the pitch and whatever they set us. We believe we can chase anything. We might not, but the belief is always there.”
