Captain Cook leads England to dominate 2nd day in Kolkata Test

By Abhishek Manroa

KOLKATA, India (TheSportsNEXT) December 6, 2012: Skipper Alastair Cook led England into a commanding position on second day of the third Test against India at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

At stumps on day 2, England scored 216 for the loss of opening batsman Nick Compton but not before scoring 165 runs for the opening wicket with his skipper Alastair Cook who surged on top of the list of English batsmen with most number of Test centuries.

This is third straight century for the England captain in the current Test series against India and he once again led his side into a position of relief after India were bowled out for 316 runs earlier in the day.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (52 from 114 – 5 fours, 2 sixes) did strike a fighting half century but lacked support from the other end as he became the last man to fall in the Indian innings.

Fast bowler James Anderson was on top of his game as he finished with three for 89 runs but star of the show was once again offspinner Monty Panesar who collected four wickets for 90 runs. Graeme Swann and Steven Finn also took a wicket apiece for 46 runs and 73 runs, respectively.

James Anderson was exceptional with his use of old ball as he made the ball talk with an impressive mixture of reverse swing and short-pitch deliveries. Indian lower middle order and tail-ender batsmen had no answer to quality bowling by English bowlers as they could add only 43 runs for the loss of four wickets.

England are now in command of the Kolkata Test as they are just 100 runs behind India’s first innings total and they have nine wickets in hand. Especially, they have their man with the best form Alastair Cook in the middle while the other in-form batsman Kevin Pietersen is yet to step into the field.

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Kolkata Test: India lose 4 batters for 172 at tea on day 1

By Abhishek Manroa

KOLKATA, India (TheSportsNEXT) December 5, 2012: The third Test match between India and England saw intriguing battle between bat and ball on first day at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday as the hosts reached 172 runs at tea but not before losing four top-order batsmen.

On a day when out-of-form Sachin Tendulkar reached yet another milestone in his international cricket career, India failed to pounced on the chance of piling up a big total in the first innings of the Kolkata Test as English bowlers kept up the pressure with some imposing bowling on a pitch which has something on offer for the faster bowlers.

India collected 82 runs in the second session of day one and lost two more wickets of opening batsman Gautam Gambhir and aggressive right-hand middle-order batsman Virat Kohli as the match stays very much even-steven after two sessions.

After losing Virender Sehwag and Cheteshwar Pujara in the opening session, the onus was on Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar to deliver the goods for the home side.

While Sachin Tendulkar is still at the crease at 46 along with Yuvraj Singh unbeaten at 14, Gautam Gambhir missed out on making it big as he was dismissed for 60 from 124 balls when he tried to cut a rising delivery by Monty Panesar but not before the left-hander struck 12 boundaries.

Virat Kohli’s poor form in the series continued as he edged one off James Anderson straight to the throat of Graeme Swann after scoring six runs from 24 balls.

The wicket of Virat Kohli holds a huge significance as this was the first time in the series since James Anderson got rid of Gautam Gambhir on second ball of the Mumbai Test. This was the first time after 338.4 overs that a bowler other than spinners took a wicket in this series.

During the course of the post-lunch session, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar achieved yet another milestone of his international career as he became the first-ever batsman to score over 34,000 runs in Test cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar is now the leading run-scorer, 2,484 runs, in the India-England Test encounters as during the current innings he went past Sunil Gavaskar’s tally of 2,483 runs.

India will resume the post-tea session at 172/4 and both the teams are still very much confidence of holding their nerves to take the honors on day one of the Kolkata Test.

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