Debutant Liam Dawson and Adil Rashid combine to help England reach 477 in Chennai

Liam Dawson notched an unbeaten half-century on his Test debut for England at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday (17 December).

The Hampshire all-rounder, called into the squad last month as a replacement for Surrey spinner Zafar Ansari, made 66 not out to help the tourists reach 477 on day two of a dead rubber fifth Test in Chennai.

Dawson was aided by Adil Rashid's 60 after a terrific innings from Moeen Ali was brought to an end on 146.

Resuming on 284-4 after a third-wicket stand of 146 from Moeen and Joe Root had helped England recover on the opening day after losing the early wickets of captain Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings, Trevor Bayliss' side, who trail the five-match series 3-0, were dealt an early blow in the first over when Ben Stokes fell to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fifth time thanks to an edge that carried through to wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel.

He only contributed six, while Jos Buttler added just five before being trapped lbw by Ishant Sharma. Moeen finally fell after he was caught by Ravindra Jadeja off the bowling of Umesh Yadav and Dawson and Rashid then steered England through to lunch at 352-7.

Rashid, who contributed heavily to a fine eighth-wicket partnership of 108, was one run short of matching his highest Test score of 61 when he edged behind off Yadav. Dawson's 55 helped England to reach 452-8 at tea, although a mix-up and some fine boundary fielding from KL Rahul saw Stuart Broad run out for 19. England lost their 10th and final wicket when Jake Ball was bowled by Amit Mishra.

India lost opener Murali Vijay to a shoulder injury sustained in the field, but that late change did little to disrupt their progress as Rahul and Patel took advantage of a flat surface to score 30 and 28 respectively to see the hosts through to stumps on 60 without loss. They trail by 417, but will fancy their chances of posting a big score on an excellent batting pitch.

Speaking to Sky Sports on England's chances of achieving 20 dismissals on such a difficult wicket, Moeen, who has now past the 1,000-run threshold for 2016, said: "It's going to be very, very hard. I think it's a tough challenge but for us to win the game we're going to have to take 20 wickets. It's going to be hard but hopefully, we have three days to do that. This evening I tried to mix it up a little bit and see what happens. They're a very good side, there's not much for the seamers and we're going to have to bowl well to bowl them out twice."