Stuart Broad bowled for around 80 minutes straight on the fourth morning of the second Test against India in Vizag after being asked to start the proceedings. And he did it on one good leg. Broad is a doubtful starter for the third Test in Mohali after aggravating a foot injury on day two and it was almost as if England captain Alastair Cook wanted to squeeze everything out of him before this match ends. Even with the niggle, adrenaline allowed Broad to bowl a mammoth eight-over spell to start day four, but it was clear he was hobbling when not running in to bowl.

Broad was outstanding on his one leg, picking up two crucial wickets with some brilliant late cutters. It was a masterclass for fast bowlers on how to bowl on a typical crumbling Indian pitch and Cook will sorely miss his services if he does get benched in the next match because of injury. His height allowed him to get that extra bit of bounce and coupled with the uneven spring off the surface, the Indian batsmen were on their toes. Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin could not last long against him.

At the other end, Adil Rashid provided good support, chipping in with the wickets of Wriddhiman Saha and, then, the big one of Virat Kohli. However, credit for Kohli’s wicket had to go to the athleticism and reflexes of Ben Stokes, who caught the Indian captain in the slips for the second time in the match with a brilliant diving effort to his right that would have made David De Gea proud. Kohli had batted superbly on the deteriorating pitch and fell short of a second hundred in the match by 19 runs, but each of the 81 he scored were worth double their value considering the surface.

Rashid took two more wickets to reduce India to 162/9, before Jayant Yadav and Mohammed Shami frustrated England with an attacking last-wicket partnership that took the lead past 400. India were eventually bowled out for 204, giving England a target of 405 to win the match, which would be an Asian record if they manage to do it.

All of England’s good work in the morning was undone by that one 42-run partnership. The way Broad and Rashid were bowling, England would have rued not scoring at least 100 more in the first innings. The deficit of 200 runs was a bit too much to make up for. If they were chasing 305 instead of 405, this would have been a completely different game.

Brief score:

India 455 (Virat Kohli 167, Cheteshwar Pujara 119; Moeen Ali 3/98, James Anderson 3/62) and 204 (Virat Kohli 81, Jayant Yadav 27*; Stuart Broad 4/33, Adil Rashid 4/82) lead England 255 (Ben Stokes 70, Joe Root 53; Ravichandran Ashwin 5/67, Mohammed Shami 1/28) by 404 runs.