Cook punishes listless India

Cook punishes listless India
England continued their dominance of India on day two at Edgbaston, reaching stumps on 456-3 in response to India's 224. The hosts now lead by 232 and are in complete command.
Before the start of play, there was plenty of discussion about the state of the pitch. It had offered up indifferent bounce on day one, but after an early morning shower came and went, it had all the makings of a batsman's paradise.
Following on from the day before, Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook were extremely watchful at the beginning of day two and this contributed to a quiet start to proceedings.
Given how quickly the game had moved on during the opening day though, the hosts were more than happy to bide their time. After all, patience has been the basis of their success over the last couple of years.
There was some movement off the pitch for India's bowlers, something they would have been banking on given the lack of pace in their attack, but it wasn't causing England's opening pair any problems.

Praveen Kumar, as he has done so many times in this series, was plugging away well for the tourists, bowling maiden after maiden, but in truth - with the exception of the odd delivery - he didn't look like making the breakthrough.
While England were ticking along nicely, Cook wasn't in the best of form. He was flashing at deliveries and finding runs very hard to come by.
The 26-year-old was getting stuck in though and when he pierced the offside field with an elegant cover drive, he brought up 4000 runs between himself and Strauss at the top of England's order.
Meanwhile, nothing was going for India as Strauss edged Sreesanth through the slips to chip away at the tourists' lead. Quite simply, without Zaheer Khan or indeed an in-form Harbhajan Singh, there was no cutting edge for MS Dhoni's men.
India then began to leak runs before the lunch break with England dispatching the loose deliveries for regular boundaries as Cook reached 50 and the total passed 150.
As they strolled off the field at the interval, England had reached 157-0 having enjoyed a productive reduced session. They had to work hard for their runs at times, but what a position to be in at lunch on day two.
Moving into the afternoon session, England were keen to fly past India's total in the Birmingham sunshine. It started well too with Cook - who was looking increasingly confident - clipping the ball off his legs for four classic runs.
India started to look like a beaten side. Amit Mishra was inexcusably bowling no ball after no ball and even when he did get some turn and bounce from the pitch; it encouraged the home side as they were the side set to bowl last in this match.
Out of the blue, Mishra did claim the wicket of Strauss, bowling the England captain around his legs for 87. However, the umpire failed to spot a big no-ball from the Indian spinner, so there shouldn't have been a wicket at all.
Was this to be the turning point for India in this match? No. Ian Bell joined Cook at the crease and playing on his home ground, got into his stride straight away with some trademark boundaries.
It was then the case of same old story for India. Mishra was getting in the grove a bit more on a increasingly dry pitch, but Ishant Sharma was inconsistent with his lines and all the momentum was with the hosts.
Then came the moment that normally occurs in the middle of a bad patch for a fielding side - a drop catch. Rahul Dravid put down Ian Bell in the slips off Sreesanth, much to the disbelief of the Indian bowler.
India were perhaps struggling to remain focused given the home side's dominance and a drop catch from Dravid of all people perhaps proved this.
The field then became more and more defensive from India. There wasn't even a slip for Mishra as Cook went to three figures from 213 balls. After two quiet matches for the opening batsman and following Strauss' excellent knock, it was all coming together for England.
Dravid's catch didn't prove too costly in terms of runs as Kumar finally got reward for his good economy to dismiss Bell, but this brought Kevin Pietersen to the crease.
He was perhaps the last man India wanted to see given the situation and he showed attacking intent from the start to move England along to 319-2 at tea with a lead of 95. It was all set for the KP show in the final session of the day.
So it proved. The 31-year-old was in devastating form in the evening session, using a combination of sheer brute force and wristy shots to move to his half-century from just 53 balls.
At the other end, Cook continued to play with remarkable concentration. You don't get too many batsman that will leave a ball outside off-stump just before reaching 150 - Cook is one of them though.
India meanwhile were appearing increasingly disinterested and demoralised as the runs continued to flow.
Pietersen did fall LBW to Kumar for an entertaining 63, but Cook - who batted all day to reach 182 - and Eoin Morgan guided England to the close. There was even time for two more dropped catches. First from Sreesanth before an incredibly easy chance was put down by Dravid as things went from bad to worse for India.
There was a telling moment during the evening session. Virender Sehwag produced some shoddy fielding before walking away with a smile on his face. In truth, India don't have anything to smile about and they were simply going through the motions by the end.
England are all set to win this match, all set to go 3-0 up and all set become the No.1 test team in the world. Given the way this series has gone, all of it will be fully deserved.