Dharamsala, Mar 8 (UNI) Sarfaraz Khan and Devdutt Padikkal's unbroken 97-run stand as India's lead crossed 150-run at Tea against England on Day 2 of the fifth and final Test here on Friday.
At the break, Sarfaraz and Padikkal were batting on 56 and 44, respectively as India were 376/3 in reply to England's 218 in first innings.
The young duo came into the act after the dismissal of centurions Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill in consecutive overs immediately after lunch.
England yearned for a breakthrough with reverse swing on offer, but debutant Padikkal clobbered a couple of boundaries, taking Ben Stokes by surprise.
Sarfaraz also unwrapped his aggressive intent after a watchful start, taking apart the England spinners.
The Mumbaikar also essayed daredevilry with a lofted straight drive and a cut over the slips with a diagonal bat off Mark Wood. This blitz deflated the hopes of English bowlers to restrict India.
The post-lunch started with Gill going after James Anderson with a couple of boundaries to flag India's resolve.
England needed some motivation, and Ben Stokes provided it. Bowling for the first time after a gap of a year, the English captain delivered in his very first ball as he cleaned up Rohit with an absolute peach of a delivery.
Anderson then scalped Gill with a nipper that beat his languid defence shot to get an inside edge. England fancied to get quick wickets with youngsters at the crease, but Padikkal and Sarfaraz negated them.
Brief scores: England 218 (Zak Crawley 79; Kuldeep Yadav 5-72, Ravichandran Ashwin 4-51) trail India 376/3 (Shubman Gill 110, Rohit Sharma 103, Yashasvi Jaiswal 57, Sarfaraz Khan 56*) by 158 runs
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