Joe Root and James Anderson created a world record for the last wicket with their extraordinary 198-run stand before England rattled India with two quick wickets towards the end of the day as first cricket Test was poised for an interesting finish, here.
Root remained unbeaten on 154 while left-handed Anderson (81) scored his maiden Test half-century as England's first innings folded for 496 in the post-lunch session.
India reached 167 for three in their second innings at stumps on the fourth day with a 128-run lead in hand as Shikhar Dhawan (29) and Murali Vijay (52) were guilty of throwing away their wickets on reckless shots after solid starts.
left-handed Dhawan hit a full toss back to spinner Moeen Ali, minutes before the tea break while Vijay, who looked rock solid, danced down the wicket and the faint edge from his bat flew to the gloves of Matt Prior behind the wickets.
Cheteshwar Pujara (55) was out next ball when he cut a liam Plunkett delivery straight to the point fielder Ben Stokes, who fumbled but held on to the ball on second attempt. Virat Kohli (8) and Ajinkya Rahane (18) saw off the remaining overs carefully. With one day remaining in the game, the hosts would look to wrap up the Indian innings to push for a 1-0 lead in five-match series while the visitors would hope that Kohli and Rahane will bat them to safe position.
Earlier, Root and Anderson put on an all-time Test record of 198 runs for the 10th wicket in the first two sessions of the day. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar (5/82) ended India's misery on the field by dismissing number 11 batsman Anderson as the Indian snapped up his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
Root and Anderson bettered the previous world record of 163-run stand made by Australia's Phil Hughes and Ashton Agar at this very ground during the Ashes series last year.
The fourth morning began with India desperately looking for the last wicket but they allowed Anderson and Root to build a solid stand by their wayward bowling. Root and Anderson's partnership also beat a long-standing 111-year old English record for the 10th wicket of 130 runs made by Tip Foster and Wilfred Rhodes against Australia at Sydney in 1903.
It is also first match in 137 years of Test cricket that number 11 batsmen of both the teams have scored fifties. For India, Mohammed Shami had scored an unbeaten 51. Anderson's is the highest Test score by an England number 11 batsman, beating John Snow's effort of 59 not out against West Indies at The Oval in 1966.
Vijay went on to score his fifth Test fifty off 111 balls, with seven fours and one six. At the other end, Pujara got to his fifth half-century in Test cricket, facing 95 balls and hitting seven fours. The two batsmen looked set to take India to stumps when disaster struck before falling.
India's lead at that time was only 101 runs and suddenly they were battling to save the match. They are still not over the danger mark but Kohli and Rahane prevented any further damage.
In the morning session, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled an expensive morning spell, while Shami (2/128) and Ishant Sharma (3/150) continued to dig in short deliveries instead of mixing it up to the tail-ender Anderson, despite a nine-man catching field set by skipper MS Dhoni.
As time went by the ploys kept on failing and the lead got slimmer. Root brought up his hundred in the seventh over of the morning after facing 186 balls and hitting 12 fours.
Two overs later, he brought up the 100-run partnership with Anderson as well as the 400-run mark for England. In the 119th over of the innings, Anderson celebrated his maiden half-century in Test cricket, off 61 balls with 11 fours. He helped England get past the 450-run mark in the 130th over of the innings as also crossing the 150-run mark in his partnership with Root.
India tried Ravindra Jadeja (0-80) as well as some part-time off-spin from Murali Vijay (0-8). Stuart Binny (0-37), their fifth bowler, bowled just ten overs in the entire innings, showing that the Indian team management might have read the pitch wrong and erred in not playing R Ashwin instead.
Brief Scores
India:457 & 167 for 3 in 48 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 55, Murali Vijay 52, Shikhar Dhawan 29; Moeen Ali 2/29) lead England: 496 all out (Joe Root 154 not out, James Anderson 81, Gary Ballance 71, Sam Robson 59, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 5/82) by 128 runs.