Jamie Smith and Harry Brook launch England counter-attack against India

The hosts were plunged into dire trouble at Edgbaston when Mohammed Siraj removed Joe Root and Ben Stokes with consecutive deliveries, the skipper dismissed for a golden duck by a brute of a ball.

That left them rocking at 84 for five, a meek response to India’s 587, but Brook and Smith threw caution to the wind in remarkable fashion to change the game.

An explosive stand of 165 from just 25 overs followed, powering England to 249 for five at lunch and taking the wind out of the tourists’ sails.

Smith, who came to the crease with Siraj hunting a hat-trick and promptly dispatched his first ball for four, was irresistible as he soared to 102 not out at the interval. His whirlwind ton, just his second in Tests, contained 14 fours and three sixes and goes down as the joint third fastest by an England batter.

He shares that spot with Brook, who was unbeaten on 91 from 127 balls and became the quickest ever player to reach 2,500 Test runs having ticked off the landmark in 2,382 deliveries.

India, who threatened to run away with things when Siraj dispatched England’s current and former captains in the second over of the day, somehow found themselves on the back foot as they headed to the pavilion despite carrying a lead of 338.

That gives them plenty of scope to reassert themselves but with England smashing a decadent 172 runs in the session, that leeway will thin out quickly if Smith and Brook are not brought to heel.

Root would have been kicking himself for missing out on a big score of his own, following a delivery that snaked down leg and edging it through to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.

Stokes could have no such regrets, beaten all ends up by a lifter from Siraj to bank a first-baller for the first time in his career.

The heat was on England but neither Brook nor Smith appeared to feel the temperature rising. Smith stroked Siraj’s hat-trick ball to the long-off boundary, pulled wholeheartedly and took the chance to show off his cut shot.

Brook leaned into a couple of drives and, in the blink of an eye, the pair had added 50. Prasidh Krishna thought he could unsettle Smith with the short ball and lost the battle by knockout, Smith hammering a single over for 23.

Ravindra Jadeja brought a measure of control with his left-arm spin but when he found the edge of Brook’s bat on 63 it flew at pace into Shubman Gill’s head at slip. Smith was motoring towards Gilbert Jessop’s 123-year-old record for England’s fastest hundred, hitting Washington Sundar’s first two balls past the man at mid-off and hoisting Jadeja for six on the charge.

He missed the mark by four balls but ensured he reached three figures before the break, striking two more boundaries in the last over.