England backed their bowlers to finish India off on day five of the first Test in Chennai, after opting not to buy extra time in the game with a declaration.

Joe Root decided not to intervene in his side’s second innings, allowing them to bat into the final hour and pile up a lead of 419 – leaving a world record chase in their wake – in a bid to take an unlikely India win out of the equation.

Jack Leach’s dismissal of Rohit Sharma gave the tourists a further shot in the arm and nine further breakthroughs are needed in the final three sessions to cap what would be a memorable away success. India closed on 39 for one, with 90 overs of battle left.

Root had earlier declined to enforce the follow-on despite dismissing the hosts for 337, a deficit of 241 runs, preferring to give his bowlers a rest and stretch the advantage.

He went on to top-score with 40 as his side were bowled out for 178, setting up a final equation that England would have only dreamed of when they touched down.

And Root’s apparent conservatism was always likely to cause some debate, the fact that the record chase in India came against England at this ground cannot be ignored.

In 2008, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men scored 387 for the loss of only four wickets, while Virat Kohli’s side are just a couple of weeks on from their audacious pursuit against Australia at The Gabba.

India had started the day on 257 for six, with Washington Sundar and Ravichandran Ashwin turning an already frustrating stand of 32 from the previous evening into a substantial one worth 80.

With all eyes on the balcony, Root opted to not intervene as Buttler was stumped for 24 and Ashwin mopped up the tail to finish with six for 61.

Despite their position of dominance, there was now some pressure on England to make inroads with the new ball.

Rohit is not the kind of opener built to dig deep and defend and he played to type here, pulling Archer for four and six successively before exiting for an inconsequential 12.

Root’s decision to use Leach first up instead of Anderson paid dividends, with the Somerset man turning one past the outside edge and into the top of off stump.