Chennai, Feb 16 (IANS): Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets while Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav took one each as India moved to within three wickets of winning the second Test against England and levelling the four-match series 1-1 in the first session on the fourth day at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

England captain Joe Root stood strong and was on 33 runs off 90 balls at lunch but his team mates have struggled to stick with him as India's spinners ran riot. Lawrence was dismissed early in the session due to some smart bowling from Ashwin and sharp work behind the stumps by Rishabh Pant.

Ben Stokes and Joe Root then faced 77 balls as they looked to conserve wickets and rebuild the innings but the former finally fell to Ashwin on eight runs off 51 balls. Axar then snagged the wicket of Ollie Pope after which wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Foakes, who was England's highest scorer in the first innings, was dismissed off what was the last ball of the session by Kuldeep.

Brief scores: India 329 & 286 (Ravichandran Ashwin 106, Virat Kohli 62; Moeen Ali 4/98) vs England 134 & 116/7 (Joe Root 33 batting, Dan Lawrence 26; Axar Patel 3/41, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/42).