Ben Duckett is adamant England are still alive despite India taking control of the Third Test with a dominant display on day three.

The tourists collapsed from 207-2 to 319 all out in Rajkot, with Duckett's superb 153 the only individual score above 50.

And Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed 104 at the top of the order before retiring hurt, setting up the hosts' lead of 322 with eight wickets remaining.

But England have made a habit of winning Test matches from unlikely positions under the leadership of Ben Stokes and their centurion insists they still believe they can take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series this week.

Duckett said: "It's 100% not over.

"If we can get two or three batters in on this pitch then you never know what can happen.

"We have to give credit to the way they [India] played this evening and they gave us nothing this morning. We tried to be attacking and it didn't pay off.

"Them sending in a nightwatchman shows they are wary of us."

The manner of England's dismissals was criticised in some quarters, with BBC pundit Michael Vaughan claiming their lack of common sense "was going to cost them the game".

Joe Root's wicket — caught at second slip attempting his trademark reverse-ramp — appeared particularly careless but Duckett was quick to defend his team-mate.

He said: "Rooty is a freak. He can do things most of us can't.

"In my eyes, that's the same as playing a drive and nicking off to second slip.

"I am sure those people weren't saying that when he was hitting Pat Cummins for six in the summer."

On his own approach, Duckett added: "People might think my sweeps are reckless but if they want to have people round the bat I'll try to get rid of them.

"We're going to continue playing the way we play."