Dawson recovered from a blow on the helmet early in his innings to hit five boundaries in his 55 not out at the break. Stuart Broad was batting on 17 at the other end.
Liam Dawson struck a fifty in his debut test, while Adil Rashid also helped himself to a half-century to help England reach 452 for eight at second day's tea in the fifth and final test against India on Saturday.
India claimed three wickets in the morning session but the 108-run partnership between Dawson and Rashid for the eighth wicket reignited England's prospects of reaching the 500-mark. Dawson recovered from a blow on the helmet early in his innings to hit five boundaries in his 55 not out at the break. Stuart Broad was batting on 17 at the other end.
Resuming on 284-4, England got an early jolt with Ravichandran Ashwin striking with the day's fifth delivery at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
The leading wicket-taker of the series had endured a rare wicketless day on Friday and he lured Ben Stokes onto the front foot to edge a fuller delivery which Parthiv Patel collected behind the stumps. Paceman Ishant Sharma trapped Jos Buttler lbw for five while Moeen Ali, who resumed on 120, looked ill at ease against the short-pitched deliveries which he often fended awkwardly.
The left-hander virtually walked into a trap when Umesh Yadav forced him into playing a pull shot, which the batsman mistimed to find Ravindra Jadeja at deep mid-wicket. Moeen faced 262 balls for his 146, hitting 13 boundaries and a six, before surrendering to his familiar weakness against short-pitched bowling.
Dawson endured a tough test initiation, the second ball he faced from Sharma smacking him on his helmet but the 26-year-old grew confident with time as he and Rashid frustrated the hosts in the post-lunch session which yielded 100 runs with the lone dismissal of Rashid.
Rashid overtook Dawson to the 50-mark, hitting eight boundaries in his 60 before edging Yadav to Patel.
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 "Liam Dawson and Adil Rashid")
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