When it came, the end was swift.
England lost their last four wickets in eight overs for 13 runs in 33 minutes of Monday morning in Mumbai to go 3-0 down in the series with one match to play.
As he has been throughout the series, Ravichandran Ashwin proved their nemesis, taking all four wickets to fall and boost his tally for the series to 27 in the process.
For England, it was a chastening end to a game that had started brightly with Keaton Jennings’ century helping them to post 400. India had been 364-7 at one stage - they ended on 631.
WICKET Anderson is the last to go, Ashwin's 12th victim of the match, & India win by an inns & 36 runs #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/0UhqHFv0x0
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) December 12, 2016
Needing something of a miracle to keep the series alive, England lost key man Jonny Bairstow in the third over of the day for 51. Ashwin got one to turn away from the bat and the wicketkeeper was hit on the back leg. His review was unsuccessful.
Jos Buttler resolved to be positive but was nearly undone by an Ashwin delivery that was fired down the leg side, the Lancashire man managing to get a bat on the ball to avoid being stumped.
Chris Woakes fell without troubling the scorers, as Ashwin got one to kick up a puff of dust from the increasingly dry surface and turn through the gate to flick the off stump.
Jimmy Anderson’s arrival at the crease saw the umpires step in to calm tensions in the middle as Ashwin and Virat Kohli proved keen to engage him in conversation.
And he fell for two, chipping Ashwin to Umesh Yadav at mid-wicket to hand India victory by an innings and 36 runs. The off spinner finished with six wickets in the second innings and 12 in the match.
England must now regroup before the final Test matchy in the series, in Chennai, starting on Thursday.