James Anderson said Sunday India looked jittery in their second innings and England were confident they could chase down 399 to win the second Test.
The tourists bowled out India for 255 in their second innings on day three in Visakhapatnam, leaving them a record fourth innings chase, and they reached 67-1 at the close.
Anderson removed the Indian openers in a brilliant spell of fast bowling in the morning, and spinners Tom Hartley and Rehan Ahmed carried on from there with regular strikes.
“I think the nerves were there to see today, the way they batted, I think they didn’t know how many was enough,” Anderson told reporters.
“They were quite cautious, even when they had a big lead. The chat last night from the coach was that if they get 600, we were going to go for it.”
The highest fourth-innings target successfully chased against India is England’s 378 at Edgbaston in 2022, and the most successful in India was when the hosts got 387 against England in 2008.
“It makes it very clear to everyone that we will try to do it tomorrow,” Anderson said. “I know there are 180 overs left in the game, but we will try to do it in 60 or 70. That’s the way we play.”
Ben Duckett came out attacking with fellow opener Zak Crawley in their usual fearless “Bazball” style of play, but fell for 28 off Ravichandran Ashwin.
