Day two of the opening test against India on Saturday saw England captain Joe Root power through his second double century in three matches to put England in a commanding position with 454-4 at tea time.
Root who was playing his 100th test, raised 124 runs with Ben Stokes to consolidate England’s position in the first match of the four-test series. His marathon 209 not out included 19 boundaries and two sixes, the second of which brought up his fifth double hundred.
Ollie Pope was batting on 24 at the other end at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Resuming the day on 263-3, Root looked typically solid against the Indian attack which could manage only a couple of lbw appeals against him, both of which were turned down.
Stokes, test cricket’s top all-rounder, at the other end was in good form and delivered an over the head six for off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
Ashwin dropped a return catch from Stokes, then on 31, and in the next over, the all-rounder’s slog-sweep brushed a diving Cheteshwar Pujara’s fingers at midwicket.
Pujara later made amends by taking a juggling catch near the rope to dismiss Stokes, who had attempted a slog-sweep against left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem.
Stokes smashed 10 boundaries and three sixes in his entertaining 82.
India have found Root, who scored a double hundred and a big century in his previous two tests in Sri Lanka, tougher to remove, the batsman looking at ease against both pace and spin on a slow track.