Rashid leads England's fightback in Mohali

Adil Rashid, England's leg spinner, produced figures of 3 for 81 to drag his side back into contention by reducing India to 271 for 6 at stumps on the second day of the third Test being played in Mohali on Sunday.

England's tail survived for just four overs in the morning session as the tourists posted a modest 283 in their first innings. India's openers, Murali Vijay and Parthiv Patel, hoped to negate any early swing on offer from the new ball, but there was none forthcoming as James Anderson and Chris Woakes failed to find early movement.

England's fielding compounded their woes as Jos Buttler dropped Vijay at midwicket, but the right hander didn't take advantage of the reprieve as he edged Ben Stokes to the keeper in his first over of the Test. At lunch, India were 61 for 1.

Patel and Cheteshwar Pujara added 34 for the second wicket but Rashid struck Patel on the kneeroll and Hawkeye pointed to the ball hitting the stumps. Pujara and Kohli, India's main stays, played impressively - and added 75 runs - in the duration they were together, but two balls into the final session, Pujara pulled a long hop from Rashid towards deep midwicket where Chris Woakes completed the catch.

The hosts were 148 for 3 at that stage and hoped for some stability but Buttler pulled off an impressive stop at backward point and hit the stumps to dismiss debutant Karun Nair.

Ajinkya Rahane was Rashid's third victim of the day as he failed to read a googly that trapped him lbw for 0. India relied on late heroics from R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who added an unbeaten 67-run stand for the seventh wicket to guide their side to within 12 runs of England's total.

"We bowled exceptionally well," Rashid said. "It was a good effort with the ball and in the field. It was a very important final session. You stick to your plans long enough, you get wickets. The pitch seems good enough. I feel okay but at times you don't feel as good; that is when you have to dig deep. It was nice to have that variation on a good spot against Rahane. We have still got four wickets tom get. Not looking that far ahead [our batting]."