KOLKATA, Dec 6: England captain Alastair Cook created history by cracking a record-breaking 23rd Test century and his third consecutive of the series as England took complete control of the third Test against India at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.

Cook remained unbeaten on a brilliant 136 to lay the platform for a mammoth first innings total as the visitors cruised to a comfortable 216 for one at close on the second day.

In reply to India’s first innings score of 316, England put up a solid batting display and rode on a 165-run opening stand between Cook and Nick Compton (57) as the Indian bowlers had a disappointing day.

Having scored his 23rd Test ton which is highest by any English batsmen while surpassing Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey, Geoff Boycott and team-mate Kevin Pietersen, Cook also created a world record of notching five centuries from the five Test matches as captain.

The England captain led from the front as he struck a six and 19 boundaries in his nearly five hour long undefeated stay at the crease and became the youngest batsman to go past 7,000 Test runs at the age of 27 years 347 days, eclipsing Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 28 years and 193 days.

In his sparkling innings, Cook gave a solitary chance while on 17, when he was dropped by Cheteshwar Pujara off paceman Zaheer Khan — a miss that eventually proved too costly for the Indians and it will be difficult to bounce back in the series which is levelled 1-1.

Earlier resuming the day at 273-7, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored a half-century before the hosts were bowled out inside the first hour of the day. Dhoni scored 52 off 114 balls with five fours and two huge sixes off Monty Panesar and was the last man out when he unsuccessfully tried to fend a short-pitch delivery from Steven Finn.

Ojha however gave India their only breakthrough in the final session of the day when Compton was given out leg before and the decision by Australian umpire Rod Tucker looked extremely dicey.

After being put down at first slip by Pujara, Cook did not have any trouble negotiating the Indian attack as he raced to his 50 in the second session.

Dhoni kept on rotating his bowlers but England openers put on 100-run partnership before tea, their second century-plus opening partnership in the series.

Panesar added two more to his tally to become the most successful England bowler with four for 90 while Anderson claimed three for 89 though could not add up to his Wednesday’s tally.—Agencies

Scoreboard INDIA (1st Innings, overnight 273-7): G. Gambhir c Trott b Panesar    60 V. Sehwag run out    23 C.A. Pujara b Panesar    16 S.R. Tendulkar c Prior b Anderson    76 V. Kohli c Swann b Anderson    6 Yuvraj Singh c Cook b Swann    32 M.S. Dhoni c Swann b Finn    52 R. Ashwin b Anderson    21 Zaheer Khan lbw b Panesar    6 I. Sharma b Panesar    0 P.P. Ojha not out    0

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-13, W-5, NB-1)    24 TOTAL (all out, 105 overs)    316 FALL OF WKTS: 1-47, 2-88, 3-117, 4-136, 5-215, 6-230, 7-268, 8-292, 9-296. BOWLING: Anderson 28-7-89-3 (1w); Finn 21-2-73-1 (1nb); Panesar 40-13-90-4; Swann 16-3-46-1. ENGLAND (1st Innings): A.N. Cook not out    136 N.R.D. Compton lbw b Ojha    57 I.J.L. Trott not out    21

EXTRAS (NB-2)    2 TOTAL (for one wkt, 73 overs)    216 FALL OF WKT: 1-165. TO BAT: K.P. Pietersen, I.R. Bell, S.R. Patel, M.J. Prior, G.P. Swann, J.M. Anderson, S.T. Finn, M.S. Panesar. BOWLING (to-date): Zaheer Khan 16-4-48-0; Sharma 15-6-35-0 (2nb); Ashwin 23-4-68-0; Ojha 19-4-65-1.