BEST OF CAPTAIN COOK

 

Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo. 

Venue- Eden Gardens, Kolkata [December 2012].

In the previous post we discussed about the first two tests of the 2012 India- England Test Series. In this blog post we will be talking about the third test. The action of this high-profile test series now shifted to the eastern part of the country- Kolkata. Indian Captain MS Dhoni won the third toss of the series and after doing so he elected to bat first. 

It was not that difficult a pitch to bat upon as it was there in Mumbai. Furthermore, most of the Indian batsmen got a good start, but none of them managed to score a ton. The Indians were bowled out for 316 runs in their first innings. Sachin Tendulkar was the leading run scorer for the Indians as he managed to score a classy 76 in front of lethal English bowling line-up. Apart from him Gambhir and Dhoni managed to score half-centuries. For English Monty Panesar and James Anderson picked up 4 and 3 wickets respectively. 

In response the English posted a massive 523 runs in their first innings. Captain Cook led from the front as he scored a solid 190 from 377 deliveries. His innings consisted of 23 boundaries and 2 sixes. On that particular day in Kolkata, his placement and timing were simply superb. It was just pure class from Sir Cook. It appeared that he would get one more double hundred before he was run out by Kohli in the most bizarre of manner. Apart from Cook, Compton, Trott and Pietersen too managed to score half-centuries. For Indians, Pragyan Ojha was the leading wicket taker as he picked up 4 wickets in the first innings. 

The Indians were 207 runs behind the English total. To make a comeback in this test match it was necessary that the top order fires hard upon the English bowlers. But the opposite happened. It was the English who hammered the Indian batting line-up. If Ashwin would have not scored an unbeaten 91, then we would have lost this test match by an innings. 

The Indians were eventually bowled out for 247 runs in their second innings. The English needed 41 runs to win the test and take 2-1 lead in the series. The Visitors started off badly in the second innings as they were 8/3 at one stage. But a target of 41 was never going to be a tough task. The English chased it with 7 wickets remaining and took a 2-1 lead in the 4-match series. Captain Cook for his magnificent 190 was awarded the man of the match award. 

[Postscript- The 4th test at Nagpur ended in a draw. With this draw the English were successful in winning a test series in India after 2 decades. However, post this series India never lost a test series in home till today].  

To watch the knock of Captain Cook, Click Here.