England openers Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings survived some nervy moments on the final morning of the fifth Test against India on Tuesday as the tourists look to bat out the day and prevent a 4-0 series defeat.

Cook looked ill at ease against India's spinners but made it to lunch on 47 with Jennings on 46 at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. England were 97 for no loss at the break, still 185 runs behind India's highest Test total of 759 for seven declared.

Skipper Cook has been dismissed three times by Ravichandran Ashwin in the series and it was almost four when he lunged forward to edge the off-spinner but the ball popped out of Parthiv Patel's hand behind the wicket.

Cook, who was fortunate that another couple of edges fell short of close-in fielders, hit four boundaries as he approached his 54th Test fifty.

Jennings looked more confident at the other end, stepping out to flick an Amit Mishra delivery to short leg on 31, the ball hitting Lokesh Rahul's wrist and nearly getting trapped in his body.

India, who hold an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series, pressed all their spinners into service but were unable to separate the openers before the break.