England captain Alastair Cook suffered yet another failure with the bat as India seized control of the second Test at Lord’s yesterday.
Cook was out for 10, caught behind by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni off Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The same combination also accounted for Cook’s Australia-born opening partner Sam Robson (17), and at lunch England were 51-2 in reply to India’s first innings 295 — a deficit of 244 runs.
Gary Ballance was seven not out and Ian Bell 11 not out, with Kumar having taken two wickets for 17 runs in 11 overs.
Cook’s exit meant it is 26 innings since the left-hander scored the last of his England record 25 Test hundreds, with his tally for the calendar year standing at meager 107 runs in eight Test innings.
The 29-year-old Essex batsman’s poor run of form has also coincided with an England slump that has seen the team go nine Tests without a victory — their worst winless streak for more than 20 years.
As if conscious that he had had often been caught in the slips while struggling for runs, Cook met Kumar’s first ball of the innings with an exaggeratedly straight forward defensive shot.
However, having looked assured for 40 minutes, Cook’s 29-ball knock, including two fours, came to an end.
Not moving his feet, Cook nicked a good length away-swinger just outside off stump through to Dhoni.
And it was not long before England’s 22-1 became 31-2 in front of a capacity, sun-drenched crowd.
Robson, dropped in the slips on seven, squandered his reprieve by driving loosely at a ball wide of off stump, Dhoni making no mistake with the catch. Kumar had then taken 2-4 in 13 deliveries.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma, India’s other two frontline seamers, also bowled a far more consistently challenging length than their England counterparts.
It took England just 10 balls to wrap up India’s innings after they resumed on their overnight 290-9, with Cook holding a juggled catch at first slip to dismiss Shami (19) off Ben Stokes.
India had been in dire straits at 145-7 after being sent into bat by Cook on a green, seaming pitch that was the opposite of the bare, lifeless track in last week’s drawn first Test at Trent Bridge.
However, England let India of the hook, the tourists doubling their total before stumps, with Ajinkya Rahane making a superb 103 in his maiden Test innings at Lord’s.
James Anderson led England’s attack with 4-60 in 23 overs.
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