Wicketkeeper Patel retained for fourth test against England

He was able to meet the majority of them not in India but Dubai over the past few days, after Cook and Co were prescribed a short mid-series break between Tests.

He scored 42 in the first innings before hitting the winning runs (54-ball 67) after being drafted into the Test side after a 12-year long wait.

Slowly growing in confidence, he struck the same bowler for two fours in successive balls with authentic shots to help England end the first hour with 49 on board.

Karun Nair, meanwhile, retained his place in the team.

India, too, have injury issues with Ajinkya Rahane being the latest entry in the injured list after he suffered a fracture on his right index finger during pratice today.

Then came a split-second of uncertainty, though, as he wondered whether it could all quite be true.

“Thankfully, it hit his hand and went out”, said Jennings. That is necessary thing, this can only happen when one comes back mentally refreshed and then you are again excited to practise those skills.

England skipper Alastair Cook was the only batsman dismissed at 46 when he was stumped by Parthiv Patel off the bowling of left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja.

Joe Root could only make 21 before he was caught at slip by Indian captain Virat Kohli off a spinning Ravichandran Ashwin delivery. That broke an opening stand of 99 and India built on it well after lunch when Ashwin had Root driving away from his body as a result of the drift on his offbreak and had the batsman caught at slip. “I thought that dismissal out in my head”.

England’s challenge now is to make Jennings’ flawless start a telling one as they try to battle back from 2-0 down with two to play.

“I’m seeing very similar traits here”.

If India can get to within 20-30 runs or surpass the English total on Day 3, they will have a significant advantage in the Test considering the form the Indian spinners displayed in the first innings.

“We play so much cricket that sometimes there isn’t enough time to think, break down your game and (work out) what is vital to me to get the best out of myself”.

To the surprise of many, this series hasn’t seen a single rank-turner so far. It was disappointing losing back-to-back wickets.

Trevor Bayliss, England’s Australian coach, first floated the idea in a selection meeting before the series against Pakistan midway through the last northern summer. Just as we were putting our pads on he said “This is not about survival now”.

Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara put on 107 runs for the second wicket as batsmen enjoyed an easy, slow-turning wicket at the Wankhede Stadium that offered no hope to seamers and some assistance to spinners. He was standing at square leg at that time, and went off the field. He was replaced by third umpire Marais Erasmus, with a reserve official Shamshuddin taking over the South African’s duties. Apart from that, the other bowlers went wicketless.