Opener Zak Crawley hit a fluent half-century but England lost two wickets to Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the first session of the fifth and final Test on Thursday.
The tourists reached 100-2 at lunch after electing to bat in their bid for a consolation win at the picturesque Dharamsala stadium, overlooked by snow-capped Himalayan Mountains.
Crawley, on 61, was batting after wrist-spinner Yadav sent back Duckett on 27 to end a 64-run opening stand, with Ollie Pope stumped for 11 at the stroke of lunch.
Bright sunshine greeted the players in the morning, defying a day-one forecast of cold and sleet.
England batsman Jonny Bairstow and Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin are playing their landmark 100th Tests and were handed caps in separate presentations by each team.
Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah returned to the team after being rested in the fourth match and took the new ball.
The openers took time to settle in, but Crawley soon found his groove and hit regular boundaries including a few crisp cover drives off Mohammed Siraj.
Spin was introduced after the first hour of play when Ashwin was handed the ball.
But it was Yadav who struck in his first over after Duckett went for a heave only to get a leading edge, with Shubman Gill running backwards to take a diving catch.
Crawley stood strong and raised his fifty in 64 balls with a drive down the ground off Yadav and soon hit Ashwin for a straight six.
India, led by Rohit Sharma, lost the opening Test but bounced back to take an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.