Veteran England pacer James Anderson felt India had a cautious approach while batting in their second innings on Day 3 of the ongoing second Test at Vizag.
According to Anderson, the hosts were not sure what sort of target they should set in the fourth innings, considering England's 'Bazball' approach.
Riding on Shubman Gill’s gritty hundred (104), India set a daunting target of 399 for the visitors. The target could have been larger as the home side reached 227/6 at Tea, holding a lead of 370 runs.
However, India’s long tail capitulated to be bowled out for 255 in the final session of the third day’s play.
"I think the nerves were there to see today, the way they batted, they didn't know how many was enough. They were quite cautious, even when they had a big lead," said Anderson after the close of play.
Chasing the target, England raced to 67/1 in 14 overs at stumps, with Zak Crawley (29*) and nightwatchman Rehan Ahmed (9*) unbeaten in the middle. They need another 332 runs to pull off a record chase in Asian conditions.
Anderson seemed quite confident about his team's chances, citing the mindset of the players under the regime of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum.
Notably, England had comfortably chased down a stiff target of 378 in the rescheduled fifth Test against India at Edgbaston in 2022 to level the home series.
"The chat last night from the coach (Brendon McCullum) was that if they get 600, we were going to go for it. It makes it very clear to everyone that we will try to do it tomorrow.
"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, and we saw that tonight with Rehan (Ahmed) going out and playing his shots.
"He wanted to get out there and chase those runs down, even tonight. We have set our stall out, tomorrow will be no different, we will play the same way we have (played) the last two years.
"Whether we win or lose, it's not relevant because we are extremely competitive and want to win every game we play, but we want to play in a certain way," the 41-year-old said.
England’s ultra-aggressive approach towards Test cricket has captured the imagination of the cricketing world over the last two seasons and Anderson said their method has put doubts in the opposition's mind.
"There's been moments throughout the last 2 years, particularly in the last 12 months, that makes us think we're doing something well because the way teams have reacted. Going back to the Ashes, first ball of the Ashes having point on the boundary sends a message to us we're doing something right.
"I don't know if intimidating is the right word, but it's putting different thoughts in opposition's minds and captain's minds. It definitely felt like that today - it felt like they were unsure what a good score would be against us.
"The wicket is still pretty good, the odd one's keeping low but you expect that. Also what we've seen today is Shubman played brilliantly - it does show there's still scores to be made out there," he said.
Anderson produced a masterclass in seam bowling and ended up with five wickets across the two innings of the Vizag Test.
"As a player you want to contribute to the team and this summer I didn't do that (in the Ashes), so I felt disappointed from that point of view.
"What the time away did do, it gave me a chance to think about what I can improve on. It also gave me time to work on my fitness, knowing coming to India, it's a hard place to come as a seamer.
"I'm obviously delighted with the five wickets but I think I'm more pleased with the fact I got through 35 overs in three days. I felt strong when I was doing it as well. All that work I was doing in the last few months has really paid off and that's probably the most satisfying thing for me," said Anderson.
(With PTI Inputs)
