Virat Kohli century puts England on the brink in Mumbai

Virat Kohli struck a fine century to take India a step closer to securing a series victory as England's hopes in the fourth Test were blown away in Mumbai. The hosts' skipper hit three figures for the 15th time in the longest form of the game, finishing 147 not out, to take India 51 runs ahead.

Mural Vijay [136] had earlier struck his seventh Test hundred, a fine knock in the circumstances after Cheteshwar Pujara [47] was bowled from the second ball of the day. India were then reduced to 307 for 6 when Joe Root ousted Parthia Patel [15] and Ravichandran Ashwin [0] in successive overs.

But Kohli came to the fore to take the match away from England, putting on 57 with Ravindran Jadeja [25] and an unbeaten 87 with Jayant Yadav [30 not out] to move the hosts into a healthy lead at the close on 451 for 7. Alastair Cook's side already trail 2-0 in the series and the visitors' hopes of restoring parity now look bleak.

Though the surface at the Wankhede Stadium offered little for a seam-heavy England bowling attack, their plight was not assisted by a succession of missed chances. Jonny Barstow missed the opportunity to stump Vijay on 45, Adil Rashid dropped a caught-and-bowled chance off Kohli before Root shelled Jayant when on eight.

"It was huge [the pressure], and again I backed my ability," centurion Vijay said. "I went back home, worked on my basics, and came strong today. I was getting out to short-pitched deliveries and there was a lot of talk about it.

"I was confident, and came out with an open mind. The basic thing was I did not think too much about it [dismissals to short balls]. We had some momentum with us, the way Virat started was fantastic and the way he ended was even more amazing. The pitch has a lot of assistance for the spinners, hopefully our bowlers can get more. Always great to bat with Pujara and Virat."