Ashwin serves Cook a second helping

Alastair Cook could have been forgiven for thinking he was experiencing déjà vu.

In England's first innings, the former captain was undone with a peach from Ravichandran Ashwin after India's spin ace had been surprisingly thrown the ball just six overs into the series-opener.

Armed with another new ball as stumps neared the following day, Ashwin got the better of Cook again with another one that spun sharply past the left-hander's defensive prod.

Pitch mapping provided by CricViz showed the second Cook dismissal had pitched only millimetres away from the one that had got him in the first dig.

Few could find fault with the obdurate opener's method in playing either delivery; on both occasions he played a straight bat, didn't try to follow the ball after it pitched, nor did he overcommit or lunge forward as the best players spin often warn against.

Former England captain Michael Atherton labelled it a "mesmerising repeat" in The Times, while Michael Vaughan told the BBC: "Sometimes you have to nod your cap to an unbelievable delivery."

The late strike saw Cook join another left-handed opener, banned Australian David Warner, as Ashwin's biggest Test bunny.

Both players have been out to the crafty Indian nine times in Tests.

The near-identical set of dismissals at Edgbaston were the kind Ashwin more commonly produces on the subcontinent, where his Test returns (268 wickets at 22.54 in Asia) are matched by few bowlers.

His record away from his home continent however is less flattering (53 wickets at 38.37 in 16 Tests), leading some observers to suggest left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav should have played the first Test against England instead of Ashwin, or at the least included him as a second spin option.

But Ashwin has dispelled doubts over his spot with five wickets across the first two days of the Test, which remains evenly poised with England holding a slender 22-run lead.

The right-armer benefited from a stint with county side Worcestershire last year (where he'll return at the conclusion of India's five-Test campaign), explaining earlier this month that he'd made some technical tweaks to his method in the UK.

"When I came here for the county stint last year, one thing I had realised was the speed at which the spinners have to bowl here," Ashwin told the BCCI.

"The wickets are extremely slow, even on the first day. You can have a bit of a bounce but if the pace is not right, the batsmen will get a lot of time to play the same ball on the front and the back foot.

"That is something I realised very quickly when I came here. Even over the last 12 to 18 months, I have spent a lot of time back home playing club cricket and I've been working on simplifying my action a bit, (to) make sure that I get more body into the ball and try and create something in the air."