England were held up by India captain Shubman Gill’s patient century as their bowlers fought admirably on day one of the second Test at Edgbaston.
After captain Ben Stokes opted to bowl first again, his bowlers battled against Gill’s calmness and another flat pitch to limit India to 310-5 at the close.
Chris Woakes bowled KL Rahul off the inside edge in a fine new-ball spell and Brydon Carse found extra bounce to have Karun Nair caught at slip for 31 shortly before lunch.
But opener Yashasvi Jaiswal complied an elegant 87 and after he was caught behind off Stokes, Rishabh Pant put on 47 with Gill as the new-ball zip faded in the Birmingham sunshine.
England hung in, however, and Pant’s patience broke after tea when he hit Shoaib Bashir to long-on for 25. Nitish Kumar Reddy was bowled shouldering arms to Woakes in the next over.
That left India at risk of collapse but Gill remained unflustered and reached three figures for the second match in a row in 199 deliveries. He put on 99 with Ravindra Jadeja to see out the final 90 minutes of play.
The tourists, who made three changes including leaving out star bowler Jasprit Bumrah, will be content but memories of England’s win at Headingley only adds to the feeling India have a long way to go to bat Stokes’ side out of the game.