Cheteshwar Pujara became only sixth Indian batsman to hit a double century against England
An unbeaten Cheteshwar Pujara double century and three early wickets put India in the driver’s seat in the first Test of against England at Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad on Friday.
After India declared on 521-8, spinners struck early to remove debutant Nick Compton, night-watchman James Anderson and Jonathan Trott to leave England reeling 41-3 at stumps.
The 24-year-old Saurashtra batsman earlier slammed 21 boundaries to plunder unbeaten 206, his maiden double century and shared 125-run fifth-wicket stand with comeback man Yuvraj Singh (74).
Skipper Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen were unbeaten for 22 and 6 runs respectively at close with England still needing 281 runs to avoid the follow on.
Surprisingly, India opened the innings with Ravichandran Ashwin, who combined with his left-arm counterpart Pragyan Ojha to mete out late damage on England.
Both spinners produced sharp turn and frustrated the batsmen with their magical variations. Ashwin finished with 2-21 while Ojha claimed ended up with 1-6.
Struggling Nick Compton could manage to score 9 runs off 52 balls before Ashwin’s mysterious delivery, finding the way between bat and pad, nettled his middle stump.
Night-watchman then spooned a simple catch Gautam Gambhir at short leg off Ojha.
England had not yet recovered from the back-to-back blows when Aswhin struck again to snare Jonathan Trott, caught by Pujara at deep mid-wicket.
With Ashwin became the fastest Indian to scalp fifty Test wickets in his ninth Test. The record was previously held by spin legend Anil Kumble, who had achieved the milestone in his tenth match.
Earlier, resuming the innings at 323 for 4 with the overnight scores of 98 and 24, Cheteshwar Pujara and Yuvraj began the day flamboyantly and hit sparkling shots all over the ground.
Denying the tourists any wicket in the morning session, the two batsmen drove up the total to 413-5 before Yuvraj perished off Samit Patel shortly after the interval. The left-hander hit six boundaries and two sixes in his 151-ball knock.
Skipper MS Dhoni (5) failed to make impact and bowled out off spinner Graeme Swann, who finished with 5-144.
Solid as hard as rock, Cheteshwar Pujara continued to pile up runs with glorious shots on both sides of the wicket and reached 196 at tea. And after the interval he lofted a single off pacer James Anderson towards thirdman to join a select band of 18 other compatriot to score a double century.
Ashwin and Zaheer Khan scored 23 and seven runs respectively.
