After a disastrous batting collapse on the opening day of the fifth Test in Dharamsala, England's chances of winning the final match of their tour of India are in doubt.
The tourists lost their last eight wickets for 81 runs, including a calamitous 5-8 in 37 deliveries, resulting in a total of 218.
Opener Zak Crawley played an attractive innings of 79, surviving the exaggerated movement generated by the India new-ball bowlers in the mountain air after England won the toss.
But the real carnage was preceded by Crawley's dismissal, bowled by a sharp turner from the magical Kuldeep Yadav. Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, and Ben Stokes were all dismissed in the space of 13 balls without adding to the score.
Despite the good batting surface, all 10 England wickets fell to spin. Kuldeep, the left-armer, took 5-72, while Ravichandran Ashwin marked his 100th Test with 4-51.
Any hope of a quick England fightback with the ball was extinguished by an opening partnership of 104 between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma.
Jaiswal was stumped by Shoaib Bashir after scoring 57, but Rohit remained unbeaten on 52, leading his team to 135-1, just 83 runs behind.