AHMEDABAD - Captain Alastair Cook led a remarkable England fightback with a heroic unbeaten 168 as the defiant visitors wiped out India's mammoth first innings lead with a gritty batting display to raise hopes of saving the first Test on Sunday.
The 27-year-old Cook displayed immense concentration and skill to not only notch up his 21st Test century under pressure but also keep his team in the game as he steered England to 340 for five at close on the penultimate day which saw the Sardar Patel track ease out quite a bit.
The England captain found an able ally in Matt Prior (84) as the duo put on an unfinished 141-run partnership to leave the Indians frustrated. The spinners, who were expected to do the bulk of the damage, found it difficult to get the wickets.
England, who conceded a mammoth 330-run first innings lead and were asked to follow-on, have now taken a lead of 10 runs, setting the stage for an interesting fifth day's play tomorrow with all three results possible. India will look to claim the remaining five wickets as quickly as possible on Monday and push for a 1-0 lead in the four-match series. England, on the other hand, will try to bat as much as possible and may even put pressure on India by taking a substantial lead on a tricky fifth day track. Resuming at the overnight score of 111 for no loss, England lost the wickets of Nick Compton (37), Jonathan Trott (17), Kevin Pietersen (2), Ian Bell (22) and Samit Patel (0) but it was Cook who stood like a rock to hold the English innings together showing superb endurance.
Cook batted the whole day with exemplary patience, determination and composure to remain unconquered. Cook, who has faced 341 balls and struck 20 fours, was given splendid support by Prior, who was not out on 84 that came off 190 balls and contained 10 fours.
The duo batted resolutely even as Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni constantly shuffled his bowling attack that lacked the bite of the first innings. India can still come back strongly with a few quick blows tomorrow morning and press for victory on a track which is offering slow turn. But the day belonged entirely to Cook after a couple of quick blows by left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and wickets off successive balls by pacer Umesh Yadav on either side of lunch. Prior, on the other hand, played the ideal foil to his captain. It was the sixth 150-plus score by Cook who had scored a century on debut in Nagpur in 2006. His other three-figure effort against India (294) was made at Edgbaston in the last series between the two teams in 2011. Cook also became the eighth English batsman to score more than one hundred on Indian soil, by joining the ranks of Ken Barrington (3), Andrew Strauss (3), Colin Cowdrey (2), Tony Greig (2), Mike Gatting (2), Ian Botham (2) and Paul Collingwood (2). The Indian bowlers toiled hard throughout the day against the resolute England skipper and, after lunch, against his more aggressive partner Prior without success. Cook's composure and patience was creditable right through and he hardly played a false shot. While Ojha was easily the more impressive of the two Indian spinners, getting some bite with his flighted deliveries, Ashwin bowled mostly flat through the air but was also guilty of not maintaining a tight line outside the off.
Ojha ended the day with figures of 2 for 102 in 44 overs to add to his 5-45 of the first innings while Ashwin, who got three in the first innings, went wicket-less in his 41 overs in which he gave away 104 runs. Yadav, another successful bowler of the day, had 2 for 60 in 19 overs. Zaheer Khan bowled economically, giving away 38 runs in 18 overs for the wicket of opener Nick Compton in the first session.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni brought on Yuvraj Singh to bowl his first over in the England second innings after 101 overs without success in breaking the sixth wicket partnership. In the second session, Yadav struck two body blows by making the ball reverse swing to trap Ian Bell (22) and Samit Patel (0) leg before wicket off the fifth and sixth balls of his first over of a new spell to leave the tourists gasping at 199 for 5 in the first hour.
Ojha had done similar damage in the first session by dismissing Jonathan Trott (17) and Kevin Pietersen (2) within a space of seven balls spread over two overs to push England on the back foot after Cook and Nick Compton (37) had put on a stand of 123 runs.
These four batsmen's dismissal by Ojha and Yadav on either side of lunch, in the space of 20 overs and for the addition of only 45 runs, pushed England firmly on the back foot. But Cook stood tall with his reach, excellent technique and calm demeanour against the spinning ball as he cracked his third century against India and the 21st in his 84th game.
Cook, who made 41 in the first essay, and Prior prevented further damage till close to renew the battle on Monday. Prior edged Ojha once but the catch fell short of a diving Virender Sehwag at slip while Cook's edge also fell short once off Ashwin. But otherwise they batted without much trouble. Dhoni took the second new ball in the 83rd over when England were 219 for 5 just before the end of the first hour in which the visitors added 42 runs in 14 over for the loss Bell and Patel.
Earlier, in the first session, some tight bowling by Zaheer Khan and Ojha kept them down to 71 runs from 31 overs for the loss of Compton, Trott (17) and Pietersen (2), the opener falling to Zaheer and the last two to Ojha. Senior pacer Zaheer Khan gave the initial breakthrough after 28 minutes into the fourth morning by dismissing debutant opener Nick Compton, who had a charmed life, for 37.
Compton was lucky not to be declared out when he was rapped in front by Ashwin and then survived a clear stumping chance off the same bowler before he fell to Zaheer. Cook and Bell, who was out first ball to Ojha in the first innings when he charged out to the bowler, prevented further damage after the fall of Trott and Pietersen in quick succession.
Compton, 34 last evening, was lucky to escape a leg before appeal off Ashwin, umpire Aleem Dar turning down the vociferous shout from the Indians. The right handed debutant was again fortunate when on 36, wicketkeeper Dhoni missed an easy stumping chance off Ashwin who drew him well out of the crease. However, his luck did not hold out for long as after the addition of one more run he was trapped leg before by Zaheer when he played across.


scoreboard
INDIA 1ST INNINGS: 521-8 DECLARED
ENGLAND 1ST INNINIGS: 191
ENGLAND 2ND INNINGS:
(OVERNIGHT: 111-0)
A Cook not out    168
N Compton lbw b Khan    37
J Trott c Dhoni b Ojha    17
K Pietersen b Ojha    2
I Bell lbw b Yadav    22
S Patel lbw b Yadav    0
M Prior not out    84
EXTRAS: (b 4, lb 6)    10
TOTAL: (5 wickets; 128 overs)    340
FOW: 1-123, 2-156, 3-160, 4-199, 5-199
BOWLING: U Yadav 19-1-60-2, P Ojha 44-13-102-2, R Ashwin 41-9-104-0, V Sehwag 1-0-1-0, Z Khan 18-3-38-1, S Tendulkar 1-0-8-0, Yuvraj Singh 4-0-17-0
TOSS: India
UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (Pak), A Hill (NZ)
TV UMPIRE: S Asnani (Ind)
MATCH REFEREE: R Mahanama (SL)