India face fight to save first Test as England close in on victory

Home side set unlikely target of 420 and are 39-1 at end of Day 4 on deteriorating Chennai pitch

England spinner Jack Leach celebrates bowling India opener Rohit Sharma for 12 during Day 4 of the first Test at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, on February 8. All images courtesy of Sportzpics for BCCI

England batsman Dom Bess on his way to 25 valuable runs during his team's second innings.

England spinner Jack Leach bowling on Day 4.

India captain Virat Kohli is all smiles at the Chidambaram Stadium.

India batsmen Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill take a single during their second innings.

India batsman Rohit Sharma.

England's James Anderson of England plays a shot during Day 4 before being caught and bowled Ravichandran Ashwin for a duck.

India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin celebrates after bowling England's Jofra Archer for five.

England players celebrate after Jack Leach bowls Rohit Sharma.

Jack Leach celebrates the wicket of Rohit Sharma with his England teammates.

England batsmen Dom Bess and Jos Buttler.

England are nine wickets away from victory in the first Test against India after setting the home side a mammoth target of 420 on Day 4.

India reached 39-1 at stumps after spinner Jack Leach bowled opener Rohit Sharma for 12 on a deteriorating Chennai pitch.

Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara reached stumps unbeaten on 15 and 12 respectively.

It was a dominant day for spinners, with Ravichandran Ashwin taking 6-61 – his 28th five-wicket haul – as England were bowled out for 178 in their second innings.

The off-spinner sent back Rory Burns with the first ball of the innings and struck crucial blows, including taking Ben Stokes for seven.

Skipper Joe Root top-scored with 40 off 32 deliveries. He hit 218 in the first innings in what is his 100th Test match.

Root hit seven boundaries before being trapped lbw by paceman Jasprit Bumrah. Ollie Pope (28) and Dom Bess (25) also helped England build a healthy lead.

Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem took two wickets and had wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler stumped for 24. Dan Lawrence (18) became Ishant Sharma's 300th Test wicket.

"It has been a rollercoaster life till now," said the 32-year-old fast bowler. "I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve had a lot of mentors in my life who have taught me how to bowl in the subcontinent and aboard what kind of lengths I need to bowl."

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Day 3 gallery from Chennai

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As for the state of the game, Ishant admitted it all depended on how India started the final day where they will need another another 381 runs to win the first of the four Tests.

"If we get a good start I am sure that we can chase this down," he said. "We have a fearless batting line-up and we are very positive so it’s about how we start and then we can think about how we go through the game.

"For the first two days I thought we were playing on a road but yesterday it started to spin a bit more. I think we’ve bowled really well, even on day one or two when the pitch was offering nothing."

India were bowled out for 337 in their first innings in the morning session, 42 runs short of avoiding the follow on despite Washington Sundar's unbeaten 85.

England, who scored 578 in their first innings, decided against making the home side bat again.

Leach and paceman James Anderson took two wickets each in the morning session to pack off India after the hosts started the day 257-6.

Sundar, who made his debut in the fourth Test of India's historic win in Australia last month, put on 80 runs with overnight partner Ashwin, who made 31.