Joe Root hailed a "sensational" effort from his England teammates as they managed to minimise some of the damage done by another batting collapse on Friday.
England lost six wickets to India for 74 runs in Friday's middle session, but Root emerged to make 78 not out, with Stuart Broad (47) and James Anderson (23 not out) helping him to steer the hosts to 352 for nine at stumps, trailing by 105 runs with two days to go.
Root told Sky Sports: “We were up against it at a stage there and the way the guys came out and played after tea was sensational.
“Broady put all the pressure back on them and a lot of credit has to go to Jimmy (Anderson) as well. The way he dealt with that pressure has given us a way back into the game.
“Me and Jimmy have got some good work to do tomorrow so hopefully we’ll keep going and keep working on our partnership.”
Root rejected suggestions England had let their nerves get the better of them while the wickets tumbled before tea after opener Sam Robson (59) and Gary Balance (71) had batted throughout the first session of the day seemingly without problem.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “We’ve just got to maybe try to assess it a little quicker when they’re on top and playing well and try to get through those tough periods.
“We’ve got a lot of inexperience which is part of being in this side and we’ll only get better and learn more the more we play.
“We’ve got to learn quickly at this level and the key is that, when we are in that situation again, we make sure we get through it and put a really big total on the board.”
Resuming on 43 for one yesterday, Robson and Ballance had given England a strong start to the day as the Indian bowlers struggled – as their opponents had – to get much life out of the pitch.
But things changed quickly after lunch as Robson was given out leg before off Ishant Sharma to end a partnership of 125 for the second wicket.
Replays indicated there had been an inside edge from Robson onto his pads, but without the Decision Review System, which is not being used in this series, the 25 year old was unable to review it.
This was to be the start of a purple period for Ishant (3-107), who had looked in poor form in the tour matches before the series, as he then trapped Balance leg before, and had Ian Bell (25) caught behind by wicketkeeper captain MS Dhoni.
Moeen Ali (14) then fell to Mohammed Shami, before Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-61) dismissed Matt Prior (5) and Ben Stokes (0) in quick succession to leave England teetering.
But Root and Broad went on the counter-attack after tea with a stand of 78 for the seventh wicket to ensure the follow on was comfortably avoided. Then an unbeaten stand of 54 for the final wicket between Root and Anderson frustrated the Indian bowlers and increased the probability of the match ending in a draw.
The pair have seen out 15 overs so far and will eat up more match time if they can close further on India’s first innings total of 457.
Root acknowledged the tea interval had played a decisive role in helping England reverse their slide.
“The tea break coming when it did broke up the rhythm of the way they were playing and it gave us a good opportunity to regroup,” he said. “We came out as a team and played a better style of cricket.
“The way Broady came out and attacked them was fantastic, he put all the pressure back on their bowlers and hence we had a really good last session.”
India will want that elusive final wicket quickly Saturday and set about rapidly building a score for England to chase in their second innings and put the host’s beleaguered batsmen under pressure on the final day Sunday.
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