England lost skipper Alastair Cook early in reply to India’s first-innings total of 455 all out on Day two of the second cricket Test here today.

Joe Root and Haseeb Hameed batted sensibly after a jittery start as the visitors trailed India by 421 runs at tea.

Root was batting on 22, while 19-year-old opener Hameed was on nine.

Mohammad Shami gave the hosts a sensational start when he cleaned up Cook (2) in the third over and he along with fellow pacer Umesh Yadav consistently hit 140kph-plus in a fine display of pace bowling.

Shami bowled Cook with a peach of a delivery that jagged back to leave England at 4/1 in 2.3 overs.

Earlier, Ravichandran Ashwin (58) steered the lower order with his second successive 50 after Virat Kohli’s majestic innings ended on 167. Kohli, thus, missed out on becoming the first Indian batsman to score three double centuries in a calendar year.

Overnight 1, Ashwin batted beautifully in his innings spanning two hours and 26 minutes and found a fine ally in debutant Jayant Yadav (35), as the duo put on 64 runs for the eighth wicket after Moeen Ali’s triple blow in the first session.

The English off-spinner provided the breakthrough by dismissing Kohli in his second over of the day and in the next he took the wickets of Wriddhiman Saha (3) and Ravindra Jadeja (0) to reduce India to 363/7.

But Ashwin, who was dropped on 17, played with patience on a Dr YSR ACA—VDCA Cricket Stadium wicket that started turning and the debutant Haryana lad also contributed well as India’s last five batsmen chipped in with 104 runs.

Ashwin completed his fifty from 86 balls with a boundary.

India’s use of DRS was found wanting as they unsuccessfully reviewed Saha’s LBW, but a dubious decision against Jadeja by umpire Kumara Dharmasena in the same over went unchallenged.

Replays showed that the ball, pitched outside the offstump, went with the angle and missed the left-hander’s legstump but, with only one review pending, India were not in a mood to take a chance.

Eyeing a third double century in a calendar year, Kohli looked in no trouble against the pace duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the morning.

But the Indian skipper momentarily lost his concentration with the change of bowling as he went for an expansive drive in the very second ball he faced from Ali and Stokes held on to the catch at slip to bring an end to his six-hour and 41-minute vigil at the crease.

Having grounded Ashwin to his left in the previous ball, Stokes let out a frustrated celebration as Kohli made a quiet walk, but not before putting India in command.

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