Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets in as many balls as India edged towards victory in the third Test after Jos Buttler’s first Test century had finally offered some England resistance at Trent Bridge.

In an uncharacteristically resilient knock, Buttler made 106 from 176 balls, sharing a stand of 169 for the fifth wicket with Ben Stokes.

However, with the hosts pursuing what would be a record chase of 521, Bumrah had Buttler trapped lbw offering no shot for 106 with the second new ball and then sent knocked back the off stump of Jonny Bairstow – batting despite a broken finger – with his next delivery.

Chris Woakes dispatched Bumrah’s hat-trick ball to the boundary but was caught behind in the seamers next over to leave England teetering on 241 for seven.

The fifth-wicket stand came after four wickets fell before lunch. Keaton Jennings was out in the opening over of the day, before Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Ollie Pope were dismissed to leave the hosts heading towards a resounding defeat.

The reintroduction of Ravi Ashwin initially posed problems for the left-handed Stokes, but the recalled all-rounder settled to reach 62 not out with 14 overs left in the day.

Buttler, dropped on one by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, reached his milestone in style by flicking Mohammed Shami to the leg-side boundary.

The record fourth-innings score to win a Test is 418, by the West Indies against Australia in 2003.

After resuming on 23 without loss after nine overs, England suffered an almost instant blow when Jennings was caught behind off the fifth ball of a cloudy morning from Ishant Sharma – who then removed Cook in his next over, caught at second slip.

Ben Stokes (centre) also passed 50 to frustrate the tourists
Ben Stokes, centre, also passed 50 to frustrate the tourists (Mike Egerton/PA)

In only his second Test, Pope was off the mark first ball with an off-driven four off Ishant. Captain Root had more trouble getting started but by mid-session, the third-wicket pair had taken England to 62 without serious further alarm.

But Root then fenced an edge to second slip off Bumrah, KL Rahul holding his fifth catch of the match away to his right.

Then Pope went after an expansive drive at Shami but instead edged high to third slip, where Virat Kohli dived across Rahul for a memorable catch.