Ravichandran Ashwin hit an attacking half-century to give India the edge after England's bowlers dented the hosts with quick wickets on day two of the third Test in Mohali on Sunday.
India were 271 for six at stumps with Ashwin (57) and Ravindra Jadeja (31) at the crease. The hosts trail by 12 runs in response to England's first innings score of 283.
England leg-spinner Adil Rashid claimed three wickets while seam bowler Ben Stokes chipped in with two wickets to hurt India.
Ashwin and Jadeja revived the innings with an unbeaten 67-run stand for the seventh wicket after India lost four of their batsmen in the final session.
In-form Ashwin struck his third successive Test fifty as he smashed eight boundaries during his 82-ball stay at the crease so far.
He combined with the left-handed Jadeja to take the attack to the opposition in the final hour of play as the duo scored at over four runs an over. "271 for six, we'll take that at the end of the day. Stuck to our plans and we got rewards at the end of the session," England's Rashid told reporters. India, who rode on half-centuries from skipper Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ashwin, were reduced to 156-5 before bouncing back.
"I think we have an advantage that both our all rounders are playing...looking to get a lead of around 75-100 runs and continue batting," said Pujara.
The hosts were cruising nicely at 148-2 until tea, after which a resurgent England wreaked havoc to claim three wickets in the space of 19 deliveries and eight runs.
Rashid struck on the second delivery after tea to end Pujara's dogged resistance as Chris Woakes completed a great running catch from deep mid-wicket.
Pujara (51), who recorded his 11th Test half-century, put on 75 runs for the third wicket with Kohli (62) and showed tremendous grit during his 104-ball stay. Rashid then got a struggling Ajinkya Rahane for nought in his very second over of the session after trapping the batsman lbw.
Scoreboard
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England 1st innings (overnight 268-8)
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A. Cook c Patel b Ashwin 27
H. Hameed c Rahane b U. Yadav 9
J. Root lbw b J. Yadav 15
M. Ali c Vijay b Shami 16
J. Bairstow lbw b J. Yadav 89
B. Stokes st Patel b Jadeja 29
J. Buttler c Kohli b Jadeja 43
C. Woakes b U. Yadav 25
A. Rashid c Patel b Shami 4
G. Batty lbw b Shami 1
J. Anderson not out 13
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Extras: (b8, lb3, nb1) 12
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Total: (all out, 93.5 overs) 283
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Fall of wickets: 1-32 (Hameed), 2-51 (Root), 3-51 (Cook), 4-87 (Ali), 5-144 (Stokes), 6-213 (Buttler), 7-258, 8-268 (Bairstow), 8-266 (Woakes), 9-268 (Rashid), 10-283 (Batty)
Bowling: Shami 21.5-5-63-3, U. Yadav 16-4-58-2, J. Yadav 15-5-49-2, Ashwin 18-1-43-1, Jadeja 23-4-59-2 (1nb)
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India 1st innings:
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M. Vijay c Bairstow b Stokes 12
P. Patel lbw b Rashid 42
C. Pujara c Woakes b Rashid 51
V. Kohli c Bairstow b Stokes 62
A. Rahane lbw b Rashid 0
K. Nair run out (Buttler) 4
R. Ashwin not out 57
R. Jadeja not out 31
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Extras: (b 8, lb 3, nb 1) 12
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Total: (6 wkts, 84 overs) 271
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Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Vijay), 2-73 (Patel), 3-148 (Pujara), 4-152 (Rahane), 5-156 (Nair), 6-204 (Kohli)
Bowling: Anderson 16-3-36-0, Woakes 15-5-47-0, Ali 9-1-19-0 (nb1), Rashid 24-4-81-3, Stokes 15-2-48-2, Batty 5-0-29-0
To bat: J. Yadav, M. Shami, U. Yadav
Toss: England
Umpires: Marais Erasmus (RSA) and Chris Gaffaney (NZL)
TV umpire: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI).
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