India broke through the stubborn England defence by dismissing rival skipper Alastair Cook and Nick Compton at the stroke of tea to leave the visitors at 81/2 in the fourth and final cricket Test here today.
Cook was controversially declared out after making a painstaking 13 off 93 balls to off-spinner R Ashwin, while his opening partner Compton was given out leg before to left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha as England extended its overall lead to 85.
The unbeaten batsman at the end of the second session was one-down Jonathan Trott on 22 after facing 54 balls and striking three fours.
The visitors, leading 2—1 in the series, were clearly aiming to draw the match as they added only 64 runs in 33.4 overs between lunch and tea after they were 17 for no loss in 13 overs at lunch.
Both the openers were out to debatable decisions by the umpires. Cook was out after battling for 105 minutes during which he struck only one four, the same number hit by his opening partner Compton who batted for 166 minutes and faced 135 balls.
The England skipper seemed to have clearly missed edging the ball to his opposite number Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but was given out by umpire Kumar Dharmasena for the second time in the match.
In the first innings, India’s scourge in the series had been declared out leg before for 1 to Ishant Sharma, another debatable decision by the Sri Lankan umpire.
The visiting captain, thus, had his first failure in both innings of a Test in this series after raking up three centuries on the trot in the opening three matches, though with some help from the umpires. And thrice in eight innings his wicket was grabbed by Ashwin.
Later, replays showed that Compton had been given out off an inside edge by umpire Rod Tucker, though the ball was also caught at gully on the full by Virat Kohli.