India demolish England top order after Cheteshwar Pujara slams double ton

Ashwin and Pujara then put on 66 runs for the 7th wicket in 81 minutes before Kevin Pietersen got rid off the former.

After Zaheer Khan fell cheaply to Anderson, the only wicket to fall to a medium pacer, the hosts declared the innings with Pujara unconquered along with Pragyan Ojha.

England commenced their reply late in the evening and India began the proceedings with Ashwin and Zaheer Khan. The off-spinner was shifted to the end from which the left-arm pacer bowled after a four-over spell while Ojha came on from his end.

Ashwin struck almost immediately by making a ball sneak through between the bat and pad of Compton to disturb the stumps. It was also the burly Tamil Nadu off-spinner's 50th wicket in his 9th Test, that made him the fastest among the Indians to reach the landmark surpassing Anil Kumble who had done so in 10 Tests.

In the very next over, Ojha dismissed Anderson as Gautam Gambhir at short leg took a brilliant bat-pad catch to dismiss the left-hander. Ashwin struck another big blow by packing off Trott for a blob, through another catch in the leg trap.

England had lost these three wickets in 13 balls before Cook and Pietersen with Dhoni beefing up the close-in catching positions with four fielders.

In the morning, the home team added 83 runs in 31 overs to their overnight score of 323 for 4 without losing any wicket.

Pujara was unconquered on 133 after having batted for nearly six sessions from just after lunch yesterday while Yuvraj was unbeaten on 72 after a stay of 174 minutes. The Saurashtra youngster needing just two runs to reach his second 100 in only his 6th Test after starting the day at his individual score of 98, got them in singles to long leg in 9 balls that he faced in the morning to complete the landmark in little over four hours and off 190 balls. It was laced with 13 fours.

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