England tumble as India spin their way to victory

England have succumbed to the inevitable crushing defeat on day four of the second Test against India, out-spun and outdone on their way to a 317-run loss in Chennai.

The damage had already been done over the course of three chastening days, with England resuming on 3-53 chasing two equally unrealistic options if they were to get out of jail and preserve their 1-0 series lead.

To win they would have needed to turn their overnight score into a world-record chase of 482 or to draw they would required to bat for six full sessions on a spinning, spitting pitch.

In the end, and to no great surprise, they came nowhere close to either outcome and were bowled out for 164.

Debutant Axar Patel finished with five wickets and there was another couple for player-of-the-match Ravichandran Ashwin, who ended the Test with eight to go with his brilliant second-innings century from No.8.

India's win in Chennai has reduced the possible scenarios by why Australia could still reach the World Test Championship final.

The Australians now need for either England to win the four-Test series 2-1 or for the series to end in a draw.

The margin was England's heaviest defeat by runs in India, a beating that will need to be parked if the tourists are to hit back in the day-night third Test in Ahmedabad, starting on February 24.

There was precious little optimism to take from this final day, but captain Joe Root clung on for over a session for 33 and Moeen Ali (43) added some late spark by hammering five sixes in a bruising cameo before his dismissal ended the match.

It was later confirmed that Moeen has requested to return home to take a break, while Jonny Bairstow and mark Wood have been added to the squad after being rested for the opening two Tests.

Root praised India's performance and admitted his side were well beaten.

"I think the credit has to go to India, they played very well. They've outplayed us in all three departments this week and for us this is a bit of an education. We've got to learn from this," Root told Channel Four.

"But we are 1-1 in the series, there are two very important games to come and we're very excited about that. Because of how well we played in the first game, we are very much in this series."