An unbeaten 67 from Parthiv Patel saw India win the third Test in Mohali by eight wickets after Joe Root’s 87 and Haseeb Hameed’s unbeaten 59 had set India 103 to win.
India take a 2-0 lead in the five match series with two matches to play with the tourists’ woes increasing with the news that Hameed has been ruled out through injury for the remainder of the series.
Recommencing on day four with six wickets left, England’s night-watchman Gareth Batty fell LBW to Ravindra Jadeja in the first over of the day.
Next to fall was Jos Buttler as his brief counter-attacking stint was ended when he miscued to Jadeja at deep-midwicket for a run-a-ball 18. It left England 107/6, trailing by 27 runs with Hameed coming in at number eight, nursing the finger injury he sustained in the first innings.
Joe Root’s half century saw England into the lead, but India finally had their prized wicket just before lunch as Root fell for 78; Jadeja picking up his second scalp of the morning with Ajinkya Rahane holding onto a one-handed catch.
A valiant 42-run partnership between Hameed and Chris Woakes (30) was ended by Mohammed Shami with the second new ball.
The Indian paceman rattled a bouncer into the helmet of the Warwickshire all-rounder and, off the very next delivery, Woakes gloved a rising delivery to the keeper.
It soon became two wickets in the over as Adil Rashid also fell to a Shami short ball, hooking to Umesh Yadav at fine-leg for a duck. It left England 195/9 with a slender lead of 61 runs.
A wounded but resilient Hameed changed gears from holding down one end to dominating the Indian bowlers as he notched up his half-century off 147 balls.
But he was left stranded on 59* as James Anderson was run-out by Jadeja for five.
England made an early breakthrough when Murali Vijay fell for a duck edging Woakes to slip. However, Patel and Cheteshwar Pujara sailed through the six overs before tea, reaching 33 for 1.
They continued to dominate after the interval before Rashid picked up his 18th scalp of the series, having Pujara caught at leg-slip for 25.
Captain Virat Kohli and Patel saw off the remaining runs, with Patel dispatching Batty over cover for the winning four;.
“It was a good toss to win, and so to get bowled out for 280, you won’t win many games of cricket in this part of the world doing that,” he said.
“We tried everything – they were 200-odd for six, which gave us a bit of a sniff – but we need to improve if we want to win out here.
“Haseeb Hameed was a positive – to show such courage and bravery to play like he did after breaking his hand. It has been a frustrating four days, but credit to India, they deserved to win.”
England return to Trent Bridge in 2017 to face South Africa and the West Indies. With tickets now on general sale, don't miss the chance to see some of the most exciting sides in world cricket go toe-to-toe in the unique surroundings of Trent Bridge.