Indian spinners Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin took seven wickets between them as England were dismissed for 205 on the first day of the fourth and final Test on Thursday.
India, leading the series 2-1, were 24 for one at stumps after England fast bowler James Anderson trapped Shubman Gill lbw for nought on the third ball of the innings.
Rohit Sharma (8) and Cheteshwar Pujara (15) were batting.
Joe Root again won the toss and chose to bat at the world's biggest cricket venue in Ahmedabad, where India won the spin-dominated third Test inside two days.
Wickets again fell thick and fast and Ben Stokes' 55 held England's score together.
Spin was introduced in the sixth over and Patel removed openers Dom Sibley for two and Zak Crawley for nine.
Root went for five to an in-swinging Mohammed Siraj delivery as his side slumped to 30-3 before Stokes put on key partnerships with Jonny Bairstow, who made 28, and Ollie Pope (29).
Bairstow was trapped lbw by a rising Siraj delivery and failed in a review that showed the ball would have clipped the top of middle stump.
Ashwin tested Pope with his off-spin after tea and the batsman was unlucky to get an inside edge off his back pad that went to short leg, and Gill took a simple catch.
Stokes reached his 24th Test fifty with a boundary off a reverse sweep, but the left-hander fell to a Washington Sundar delivery from around the wicket.
Patel, who has claimed 22 wickets in three Tests and took 11 in the previous match, got Dan Lawrence stumped four short of his fifty.
Siraj and Stokes were involved in a verbal duel, joined by India captain Virat Kohli, until the umpires intervened. Stokes then hit back with three boundaries off the quick bowler.
England fast bowler Jofra Archer was left out of the game with a "right elbow issue" that made him miss the second Test.