Captain Alastair Cook continued to torment India with amonumental knock of 190 as England put themselves in the driver's seat bytaking a mammoth 193 runs first innings lead in the third cricket Test here ineast India today.
Cook produced another magnificent effort before was run-outin a freak manner while Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen also made significantcontributions with scores of 87 and 54 respectively with England reaching amassive 509 for six at the end of the third day's play.
At stumps, Matt Prior on 40 and Graeme Swann on 21 had added56 runs for the undefeated seventh wicket partnership to compound India'smisery.
On yet another frustrating day for Indian bowlers, PragyanOjha was the leading wicket-taker with his 3/140, while Ishant Sharma andRavichandran Ashwin managed a wicket each as seniormost pacer Zaheer Khanbowled 29 wicketless overs.
Cook's marathon effort spanned over eight hours and 12minutes and he added 173 runs with Trott for the second wicket after beinginvolved in a 165-run opening wicket stand with Nick Compton.
Resuming the day at 216 for one, England slowly built ontheir lead as the day progressed while Cook's masterclass century brought thebest from Trott who signalled his return to form with a responsible knock aftertwo ducks in the first two Tests.
With two days left in the match, England seem to be in aposition from where they can push for a 2-1 lead in the four-match series. theIndians, on the other hand, will have to bat out of their skins in the secondinnings to save the game.
The inept Indian bowling and equally poor fielding did nothelp the cause as England gained heavily.
In their pursuit for an unassailable 2-1 lead, Englandremained in course for a big lead with two more days to go in the third Test atEden where India never lost a Test since 1999.
Cook was dropped by Ishant Sharma off his own bowling whenthe English skipper was on 156 as the Indians appeared clueless throughout day.Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn't show any pro-active approach and none ofhis plans seemed to click.
Cook, who yesterday became the leading English centurionwith 23 tons, got the second reprieve when he offered the simplest of returncatch failing to check his shot.
Sharma tried to latch onto it on his follow-through butultimately dropped a dolly and was finding it hard to believe.
Cook had no trouble negotiating the Indian bowlers otherwiseas he notched up his seventh 150 plus score in Tests clobbering Zaheer throughmid-wicket.
The in-form English skipper also went past 500 runs in theseries, only the third Englishman to do so in a series in India after KenBarrington and Mike Gatting.
Throughout his fluent innings, Cook also ensured anout-of-form Trott reach his 13th Test half-century.
