London: Chris Woakes marked his return to Test cricket with a maiden century, and in the able company of Jonny Bairstow, handed England a massive advantage over a beleaguered India at stumps on the third day of the second Test at Lord's on Saturday.

Woakes struck a polished century as England finished in a dominant position, reaching 357 for six, a lead of 250, when bad light stopped play.

Woakes walked off unbeaten on 120 with Sam Curran batting on 22.

The English duo showed the way to the visiting batsmen as to how to bat on this wicket, even though the strip eased out considerably.

Woakes came into the game after an injury-induced break and as a replacement for the in-form Ben Stokes.

Post tea, Woakes and Bairstow (93) took their sixth-wicket partnership to 189 runs. They scored at a quick clip as Indian shoulders dropped and their spirits sank.

There was almost no fight as both batsmen marched towards their centuries in style. Woakes got there first, off 129 balls, as their 150-partnership came off just 219 deliveries.

Bairstow slowed down with the landmark in sight and paid the price for it with Hardik Pandya (2/66) dismissing him on 93. Dinesh Karthik took a diving one-handed catch to the right.

Curran then came to the crease and started smacking the ball around. India took the second new ball as soon as it was due, but the players went off for bad light after just one over.

Earlier, Bairstow and Jos Buttler (24) took their fifth-wicket partnership to 42 runs. England crossed 100 in the 27th over, even as Mohammed Shami (3/74) and Ishant Sharma bowled brilliant spells.

Both batsmen played and missed a lot, with Bairstow in particular searching for timing as he played quite a few inside-edges that missed his stumps.

Shami finally got the breakthrough for India as he trapped Buttler plumb lbw in the 32nd over.

With a lot of cloud cover, India still had hopes of reversal in this match at that point. But Bairstow-Woakes defied them as the visitors severely missed a third full-time pacer to back up Shami and Ishant.

Bairstow brought up his 19th Test half-century off 76 balls. Soon afterwards, Woakes did the same, and reached his fifth Test half-century off 71 balls.

England crossed 200 in the 49th over even as Ravichandran Ashwin (0/23) failed to provide any breakthrough.

Shami troubled the batsmen more in his opening spell, with Ishant finding more impact as he changed lines to come around the wicket. The breakthrough came in the eighth over as Shami trapped Keaton Jennings (11) lbw, with England losing a pointless review.

Surprisingly, Ashwin didn't get to bowl in the first session. But after Kohli had a chat with Pandya, he tightened up his line to the batsmen and became much more effective.

He then went on to trap Pope lbw in the 22nd over, as England lost their second review as well.

The big blow of the morning came at the stroke of lunch as Shami returned to pick up Root, trapping him lbw.

India

1st innings 107

England

1st innings

A. Cook c Karthik b Ishant 21

K. Jennings lbw Shami 11

J. Root lbw Shami 19

O. Pope lbw Pandya 28

J. Bairstow c Karthik b Pandya 93

J. Buttler lbw Shami 24

C. Woakes batting 120

S. Curran batting 22

Extras (b-7, lb-10, nb-1, w-1) 19

Total (for 6 wkts; 81 ovs) 357

Fall of wickets: 1/28, 2/32, 3/77, 4-89, 5/131, 6/320

Bowling: Ishant 19-3-88-1; Shami 19-4-74-3; Kuldeep 9-1-44-0; Pandya 17-0-66-2; Ashwin 17-1-68-0