There was no end to England's batting woes against the spin duo of Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin as the side folded for 81 in its second innings to set India a target of 49 on the second day of the low-scoring day-night third Test here on Thursday.

India looked well on course to claim only their second Test victory inside two days, reaching 11/0 in pursuit of a mere 49 against England at dinner.

Patel picked five wickets in the second essay, adding to his outstanding haul of six in the first innings as England collapsed.

Ashwin, on the other hand, added four more to his first-day spoils of three scalps to cross the 400-wicket mark in the longest format.

He became the fourth Indian after Anil Kumble (619), Kapil Dev (434) and Harbhajan Singh (417) to achieve the feat.

Ashwin also became the second fastest to reach the milestone after Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan, who made it in his 72nd Test.

The veteran came into the match six short of the landmark and took three England wickets in the first innings.

England's scorecard bore a dismal look with all-rounder Ben Stokes 25 and Ollie Pope's 12 being the best contributions.

Earlier, India's first innings had folded for 145 with opener Rohit Sharma top-scoring with a 66-run knock. England captain Joe Root returned career-best figures of 5/8 for his team.

Joe Root's magical spell of off-breaks triggered a sudden collapse as India were caught in their own web of spin to be shot out.

The England skipper produced his career-best figures of 6.2-3-8-5, engineering a remarkable turnaround assisted by left-arm orthodox Jack Leach (4/54 in 20 overs).

India lost as many as seven wickets for only 31 runs after looking solid at 114 for 3 at one stage in the game.

Rohit Sharma (66, 96 balls) was in supreme form till he was around but another cheap dismissal of vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane (1) off Leach changed the course of events.

Rahane, who has never had much success against slow left arm bowlers, was rapped on the pads as Leach fired one in and it was not much of an issue for umpire Nitin Menon to adjudge him leg before.

Once Rohit was gone, it was time for Root to enter the scene and do a Michael Clarke (6/9 with his left arm orthodox in Mumbai 2004) as Rishabh Pant (1), Washington Sundar (0) and Axar Patel (0) were accounted for in quick succession.