Ian Bell’s 235 helped England heap on the pressure with a declaration of 591-6 at tea, and the tourists then slumped to 13-2 with the loss of Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman inside the first five overs.
Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar put on 55 for the third wicket at The Oval to become test cricket’s most prolific partnership but Graeme Swann dismissed Tendulkar for 23.
Swann finished with 3-27 and only Dravid’s unbeaten 57 saved India from even more complete humiliation.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed some spirit with a four off the final ball of the day to finish on 5 not out, but India looks certain to at least start its second innings during what is forecast to be a dry Sunday.
Rain washed out the whole of the second session to deny England an even bigger total and reduce India’s time at the crease, but the tourists still have a long way to go to avoid a 4-0 series loss.
Sehwag hit successive fours before James Anderson trapped him lbw with the final ball of the first over.
The fifth ball of Stuart Broad’s second over then deviated dramatically after it passed Laxman’s bat and the next snared the batsman, the bounce clipping the edge of a defensive prod and flying straight to Matthew Prior’s waiting gloves.
Dravid and Tendulkar passed West Indies greats Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haines in the list of all-time test partnerships before the Little Master fell to Swann, leaving him still stranded on 99 international centuries.
Swann, who has largely been overshadowed by the pace bowlers this series, had already turned a couple of deliveries and had a shout for a catch off Dravid’s forearm turned down when Tendulkar tried to sweep him — sending a top edge spinning into the air for Anderson to drop back from slip and catch.
Suresh Raina then faced 29 deliveries without scoring before he was stumped in a hairline decision from third umpire Steve Davis.
With Gautam Gambhir absent with a mild concussion sustained when dropping Kevin Pietersen on Friday, the fielders huddled around Ishant Sharma. The nightwatchman soon folded, caught at short leg by Alastair Cook off Swann for just 1.
“We wanted to get as many runs as we could first innings,” Bell said. “The wicket was wearing quite a lot so we thought spin was going to come into it. If we came out with the wrong attitude tonight the game could have quickly slipped to a draw.
“Our bowling was fantastic. It would have been very easy for us to come out and go through the motions.”
While England has passed 500 three times in six innings and has 2,809 runs at an average of 59.77, India has managed only 1,564 at 24.06.
That contrast in batting form was as apparent Saturday as at any time in the series.
Resuming on 181 against the team England has deposed as test cricket’s No. 1, Bell continued with the same serene authority he showed in his 350-run stand with Pietersen.
He clipped a boundary off his hip from the third ball of the morning Saturday to set the tone and soon passed England teammate Cook as test cricket’s leading scorer for 2011.
Bell reached his first international double hundred with a flick to the fine leg boundary for one of his 23 fours and was finally trapped lbw by Raina shortly before lunch, also having scored two sixes from the 364 deliveries he faced.
By the time he departed to a predictable ovation, Bell had reached 950 runs for the year — 23 more than Cook, who fell for 34 early Friday, and 219 more than third-placed Pietersen.
“This was not far off a perfect innings,” Bell said. “I played as well as I could do but I’d like to think I can do more in the years to come.”
Bell was only batting at No. 3 because Jonathan Trott was again absent with a shoulder injury.
“I’ve always said I had unfinished business at No. 3,” Bell said. “In the future, I want to keep getting myself up the order in all forms of the game. I want to show people I’m a much improved player.”
Pietersen fell for 175 late Friday after sharing in the highest third-wicket stand by any team in 131 years of test cricket at the south London ground.
Pietersen alone has 533 for the series — more than Dhoni, Tendulkar and Laxman combined.
Anderson and Eoin Morgan had already departed to Sreesanth by the time Bell walked — the nightwatchman caught by Laxman at second slip for 13 and Morgan edging to Dhoni behind the stumps for 1 — but Ravi Bopara and Prior continued to add the runs.
Bopara made the most of his rare time at the crease, sharing in a 61-run stand with Bell and finishing unbeaten on 44, while Prior had made 18 not out by the time rain set in at lunch.
Two whole sessions were lost to a downpour on the opening day and rain began falling as the teams walked off for the interval, prompting umbrellas to open in the crowd and the ground staff to bring on the covers.
Bright sunshine returned shortly before the scheduled tea interval, during which umpires Simon Taufel and Rod Tucker inspected the pitch and England declared.
