Ashwin five-for puts India in control of 2nd Test

Alastair Cook admitted that Ben Duckett’s place was in jeopardy after the Northamptonshire batsman was out for nought as England lost their last eight wickets for 66 to slump to a 246-run defeat.

The second session was in a stark contrast to the busy morning wherein India were all out for 204 but managed to breach the psychological barrier of a 400-run lead.

Shami also claimed the wicket of Adil Rashid before lunch.

The quicker-through-the-air Rashid, who trapped Wriddhiman Saha leg-before with a googly, bowled with greater control in the second innings. “There are 17 days before the (fourth) Mumbai test”. If we get two or three batsmen stuck in like the two did today then we will save the Test. Even as wickets kept tumbling around him, Kohli’s batting belied the struggles others were enduring.

Rahane couldn’t fend off extra bounce from Broad and was caught at slip.

Earlier, Kohli batted with class and majesty, stroking out shots all around the park in his 109-ball knock, studded with four boundaries but before he could notch up yet another century Ben Stokes’ brilliant one-handed catch at the slip ended his stay.

Ravi Jadeja holed out to deep mid-wicket and Rashid collected his fourth wicket of the session when Umesh Yadav was caught behind as the ball settled in Jonny Bairstow’s armpit. “But you say play your natural way and suddenly you’re four down then lower order start digging in and you think, “why didn’t we start that right at the beginning of the game”.

India could have been dismissed earlier but for the 42-run last-wicket partnership between Jayant Yadav (27 not out) and Shami that took the total past 200. In India you’ve got to score first-innings runs and try to get parity.

Asked whether they’re clear about the use of DRS which made its debut for the first time in a Test series in India, Pujara said: “We all discussed how we want to take calls.as a fielding unit we knew when to opt for DRS”. In front of an audience attuned to a decade of Twenty20 cricket, Alastair Cook and teenaged Haseeb Hameed bedded themselves on an unpredictable pitch where batting didn’t necessarily mean scoring.

“Even in 2012, England lost the first Test and came back to win the series but that was a far better English side than this one”.

England’s opening stand had lasted 188 minutes when it was finally broken, Hameed helpless to repel an Ashwin delivery that grubbed along the turf, going for 25.

Cook, who had struck a delightful 130 in the second innings of the drawn Test in Rajkot, went on to record his 53rd Test fifty.

Despite losing that vital wicket, Broad remained upbeat about England’s chances of survival. “There will be some uneven bounce on the pitch and you have to grit your teeth and crack on”, Bairstow said. But from that moment we showed lots of character and fight. There are only another 90 overs to go. Or as Broad put it later — “slow down the game so that it doesn’t feel like climbing a mountain”.