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India's pacers did the trick with the second new ball to reduce England to 326 for 9 at close on Day 3 of the third and final Test, at The Oval in London, on Saturday.
England lost their last four wickets for 17 runs and trail India's first innings score by 338 runs.
At stumps, Chris Tremlett was unbeaten on 18 from 30 deliveries, while Monty Panesar was yet to score after facing 17 deliveries.
England need to score 465 to avoid the follow-on, which means they need to score another 127 with one wicket in hand.
Zaheer Khan took two wickets in an over -- those of Ian Bell and Ryan Sidebottom -- to trigger a lower order collapse and finish with 3 for 32 in a miserly spell of 22 overs.
S Sreesanth also came up with an impressive spell, scalping Paul Collingwood leg before wicket for 62 and Matt Prior for 0.
Kevin Pietersen, who scored 41, added 78 runs for the fifth wicket with Collingwood before Sachin Tendulkar dismissed him in his first over.
Collingwod then added 86 runs for the sixth wicket with Bell, who struck a breezy 63. But after Collingwood's dismissal to Sreesanth, the England lower order collapsed tamely.
Anil Kumble, who scored a century in India's first innings, claimed the wickets of Alastair Cook and Michael Vaughan, to finish with 2 for 86 in 26 overs.
India scored a mammoth 664 in their first innings, courtesy Anil Kumble's 110, his maiden Test century.
India lead the series 1-0, having won the second Test, while the first at Lord's ended in a draw.
Morning session: (100 runs, 25.3 overs, 3 wickets)
Resuming on 24 for 1, England survived an early scare in the fourth of the day when Alastair Cook was put down on 13 by Dinesh Karthik at leg slip off S Sreesanth. The left-hander tried to glance the ball fine but ended up hitting it straight to the fielder, who messed up an easy offering, his second of the series.
And, as if to rub salt on the wounds of Sreesanth, Cook whipped the next delivery through square leg for a boundary. It would have been a timely boost had Sreesanth and the Indian team got am early wicket, but Karthik, stationed at leg slip for that particular shot, failed to read the plot.
Zaheer Khan, meanwhile, was struggling to control his line and length with a ball that was relatively new and doing a bit.
Anil Kumble was introduced quite early, in the seventh over of the day, in place of Zaheer. He had starred with the bat, scoring his maiden century, and it remained to be seen whether he could do the trick with the ball too.
In Kumble's second over of the third morning, Cook got another reprieve when Sourav Ganguly dropped a hard chance in the same leg slip position.
Once again Cook tried that fine flick on the leg side, but the ball hit the inside half of the bat and went quickly to Ganguly, who could not hang on to a difficult effort.
R P Singh replaced Sreesanth and struck in his second over, trapping nightwatchman James Anderson leg before wicket for 16. Anderson had hung on pretty well at the wicket, hitting three boundaries in 48 balls during his 72-minute stay at the wicket, and doing the job that was entrusted to him.
Sreesanth and Zaheer continued to struggle in their second spells too, still unable to control line and length. Time and again they strayed on the batsmen's pads and didn't make them play much on the off-stump by keeping it a bit wide.
Cook profited the most as he dished out some lovely drives through both sides of the wicket as the bowlers erred on the fuller side. In the 26th over by Singh, he produced another beautiful cover drive to bring up his half-century off 77 deliveries. It included eight boundaries. Two balls later he repeated the dose, but this time drove straight past the bowler.
In the next over, Singh tried to compensate for the two boundaries and looked to bowl a bit straight. But twice in the over he bowled way down the leg side giving keeper Dhoni no chance as the ball sped to the boundary ropes. It was no surprise to see Singh being replaced by Kumble, who had till then bowled four overs for 18 runs. With around 20-25 minutes to go for lunch could the veteran effect a breakthrough before the break?
Vaughan gave him the rough treatment in his first over of the new spell when he dispatched a short delivery to the third man fence. Runs were coming thick and fast, with boundaries quite regularly, as England moved to 119 for 2 after 31 overs.
However, Kumble brought India some joy when he struck with the important wicket of Cook in the 32nd over of the innings. The veteran bowled one a bit slower and the left-hander, deceived by the pace, offered a simple catch to mid-on, as he got a leading edge in his attempt to flick it on the leg side.
Cook made 61 from 98 deliveries, hitting 11 boundaries, but England would have preferred him going on to play a bigger innings considering that twice he was put down by the fielders.
Kumble then doubled India's joy when he claimed the important wicket of the in-form Vaughan. The England captain failed to read the incoming delivery, which again was a bit slower. He tried to drive through the off-side but got an inside edge which looped back straight the bowler and was dismissed for 11.
Lunch was taken at the fall of Vaughan's wicket as England went into the break at 124 for 4 off 33.3 overs. Kevin Pietersen was unbeaten on 4 and now he holds the key to England's fortunes in the innings and possibly the match.
They still trail India by 540 in the first innings, but, importantly, they would like to cross the follow-on target of 465 runs.
The Indian seamers will need to come up with a better showing after lunch and give Kumble support from the other end to ensure the pressure is maintained after lunch.
Post-lunch session: (28.3 overs, 86 runs, 1 wicket)
Paul Collingwood hit a boundary off the third ball he faced through midwicket off the final delivery of Kumble's over, the first after lunch to get England going.
In his second over after lunch, Kumble had an interesting duel with Pietersen as he bowled a couple of slower leg-spinning deliveries that turned some distance. Pietersen defended quite solidly for the first four deliveries, but then went for an expansive drive off the fifth. Though it went for a boundary, Kumble must been smiling seeing the batsman going for his bait.
Sreesanth was once again guilty of letting his focus drop in the 41st over of the innings, his 14th, when he bowled three no-balls. He went round the wicket but still bowled a no-ball as his line and length went haywire. It was surprising considering that he was spoken to on this issue in the days leading to this match.
At Trent Bridge, a moment of madness, that included the high beamer and the bouncer off a huge no-ball, made captain Rahul Dravid see read and he was removed from the attack. It happened here too.
Zaheer replaced Sreesanth but even he failed to make any impression on this flat wicket. Collingwood looked more assured than Pietersen, who constantly gave the bowlers hope with loose shots.
The first hour after lunch was by far England's best in the match as they did not lose any wicket. England reached 172 for 4 in 49 overs with both Pietersen and Collingwood unbeaten on 21, but the latter had hit three boundaries in 39 deliveries as compared to Pietersen's one in 65 balls.
Pietersen seemed to have gone into a shell as he just kept defending while taking the odd single in between. However, in the 54th over of the innings, bowled by Singh, he did hit out, scoring a couple of cracking boundaries. The first one was pulled in some style to the midwicket boundary as if to make a statement that he was still at the wicket, while the second was sent to the cover boundary.
Pietersen then hit a full toss from part-timer Sourav Ganguly through midwicket for a boundary, his fourth of the innings, to move on 37. Ganguly, though, kept a tight line otherwise, bowling just outside the off-stump and inviting the batsman to have a go.
It became a bit overcast and Ganguly was clearly relishing the conditions as he beat Collingwood with a beautiful delivery that pitched on off-stump and left him. It seemed England would finish the session without losing a wicket, but then Sachin Tendulkar's golden arm worked for India.
He struck with his very first delivery when he tempted Pietersen to have a go at a wide delivery; the batsman obliged but got an edge, which was easily pouched by Dravid at slip. It was not a typical Pietersen innings as he was made to work hard for his knock of 41, which took 107 deliveries and included just four boundaries. He added 78 runs for the fifth wicket with Collingwood but lost his wicket at possibly the wrong time.
Even though they got a wicket late in the session, the Indian bowlers, specially the seamers, were guilty of not making the batsman play enough after lunch; they kept bowling short and wide of the stumps. With such a huge score in their kitty, it was surprising that India seemed a bit defensive as far as their tactics were concerned.
The need of the hour was to pitch it up and make the batsmen play and wait patiently for the mistakes which one hopes they will try and do after the tea break.
Post-tea session: (116 runs, 4 wickets, 34 overs)
Tendulkar and Kumble resumed proceedings after the tea break and they did get some of the deliveries to spin sharply. Tendulkar especially got a lot of turn, but it was the control that was lacking as he dished out a couple of full tosses.
Kumble, meanwhile, was playing on the batsmen's patience and maintaining a steady disciplined line and length.
Collingwood and Ian Bell decided they had seen enough of Tendulkar bowling his leg-spinners and took charge. It was Collingwood first who danced down the wicket and hoisted him over the covers for a boundary in the 71st over. Bell repeated it two balls later when he stepped down and
lofted Tendulkar straight as England reached 235 for 5 after 71 overs.
In the next over, Collingwood brought up his half-century with a cracking boundary to the point region when Kumble pitched it just a bit short.
Even Bell was enjoying batting on this track as he continued growing in confidence with every passing minute. In the 76th over by Singh, he hit two boundaries to move to 30 as England reached 261 for 5. For Singh, it was getting harder with every over as his analysis at that point read 61 for 1 in 13 overs, in which he had most of the time strayed on both sides of the wicket.
VVS Laxman was introduced into attack in the 80th over and Bell promptly dispatched him over the midwicket for a boundary off the very first delivery.
Surprisingly, India did not take the new ball as soon as it became available at the end of 80 overs. It was quite a strange decision considering that both batsmen were looking quite comfortable against the pacers.
Bell lofted Kumble straight down the ground for a boundary and then picked a quick single to bring up his half-century in 77 deliveries, inclusive of nine boundaries, in the 81st over.
It was also shocking that Zaheer was not brought into the attack for 30 overs, between the 51st and 81st over, as England prospered at a fair rate.
As expected, Dravid took the new ball after 81 overs and Sreesanth was handed the brand new cherry.
The Kerala pacer made the decision count when he struck in his first over, getting Collingwood leg before wicket for 62. Television replays confirmed that the ball would have missed the leg stump and, once again, it was Ian Howell who made the decision.
Collingwood hit nine boundaries in his 120-ball knock, adding 86 runs for the sixth wicket with Bell.
The wicket came at the right time for India and they would now be expecting to strike a few more blows with this new ball.
Bell played confidently for a breezy knock of 63 before he edged behind to Dhoni off Zaheer. Bell hit 11 boundaries in his 96-ball knock but with his wicket India had opened the floodgates with the tail to follow.
Zaheer struck again four balls later when he got the wicket of Ryan Sidebottom for 2 as the batsman attempted a pull shot but could only top edge it back to the bowler as England slipped to 305 for 8 in 87 overs.
Matt Prior's horror run in the match continued when he fell for a 15-ball duck, caught behind off Sreesanth. The England wicketkeeper, already under fire, for two dropped catches could not do much with the bat either as the hosts came undone against the new ball. The pair of Sreesanth and Zaheer had done the trick with the new cherry as England lost four wickets for 17 runs in the space of 45 balls to slip to 305 for 9.
The whole nature of the game changed with the introduction of the new ball and suddenly the Indian fielders looked more charged up. Sreesanth was particularly impressive in his fifth spell as he claimed the wickets of Collingwood and Prior after a torrid time earlier in the day.
Chris Tremlett struck a couple of boundaries to remain unbeaten on 18 as he and last man Monty Panesar hung on in the last few overs of the day.
At close on the third day, England were left tottering at 326 for 9 in 96 overs, still trailing India's first innings score by 338 runs. They need another 127 runs to avoid the follow on, which seems highly unlikely with just one wicket in hand.
Zaheer Khan made most of the new second ball after struggling with the first one earlier in the day. He took two wickets in an over that of Ian Bell and Ryan Sidebottom to finish with 3 for 32 in a miserly spell of 22 overs.
S Sreesanth also came up with an impressive spell, scalping Paul Collingwood leg before wicket for 62 and Matt Prior for 0.
India will be hoping to dismiss the last pair as early as possible on the fourth day. It will be interesting to see whether Dravid enforces the follow-on or not. The bowlers should be fresh on Sunday and there should be no problem in making England bat again. He could also decide to score some quick runs and let Kumble loose on a fourth and fifth day track.
