The offspinner picked up four wickets before the lunch session with England needing another 156 runs to make India bat again.

R Ashwin (4-55) ripped through England's batting order to leave them gasping for survival in the morning session of day three of the fifth Test against India in Dharamsala. The off-spinner, who shared the new ball with Jasprit Bumrah, was at the top of his game as he outsmarted England's batters who all perished due to moments of indecision. Jonny Bairstow (39 off 31) held the BazBall flag up high with a highly entertaining cameo that included three sixes off Ashwin but that fun ended when Kuldeep Yadav was brought on, with the wrist spinner striking in his first over through a vicious leg break.

With the left-hander in Ben Stokes at the crease, Ashwin was brought on at the stroke of lunch and the off-spinner duly obliged by castling the England skipper to deepen England's wounds. The visitors innings started off on a bumpy note as an edgy Ben Duckett tried to hit his way out against Ashwin, only to get bowled after stepping out way too early for the inside out shot. Zak Crawley's vigil was scratchy and he fell for a 16-ball duck, nudging a sharp off break straight to backward short leg. Ollie Pope's dismissal was more proof of the muddled mindset from England's batters.

The England no.3 went for the sweep against a delivery that was nowhere close to being full, only to get a top-edge that was brilliantly snapped up by Yashasvi Jaiswal. Amidst the mayhem, Joe Root looked his usual solid self, using nimble feet and soft hands to handle the spinners. Bairstow's onslaught briefly kept India and Ashwin in check but it was a storm that was bound to be nipped in the bud sooner than later. England's only shining light of the morning session came early on when James Anderson finally got to the 700 club by getting Kuldeep to nick one behind. The veteran pacer became the first fast bowler to reach the landmark.

Brief scores: England 218 and 103/5 (Jonny Bairstow 39; Ashwin 4-55) trail India 477 (Shubman Gill 110, Rohit Sharma 103, Devdutt Padikkal 65; Shoaib Bashir 5-173) by 156 runs