India v England: from prolific to utterly compelling, captain Alastair Cook takes on a new aura He adheres to one important rule: do not sweep off the stumps. The advent of DRS has made umpires generally more trigger-happy, so he is careful to only attempt the shot to a left-arm spinner if the ball is pitching well outside off stump and he can plant his pad outside the line. The sweep, a largely premeditated shot which is most effective against a good length ball, is used to disrupt a spinner's rhythm. Cook is very sure of his sweeping ability and employs it in a calculated manner to deny the spinner a restrictive length. He rarely uses it against the off-spinner, however, since the ball is turning against the angle of the shot and from a straight line. So there is more risk attached, both of an lbw and a top edge. So, while he was happy to pick off the left-arm spin of Pragyan Ojha with his portfolio of sweeps, he could not be persuaded to try it against Ravi Ashwin - even when the ball was floated invitingly on to leg stump - until he had reached his hundred. His abstinence was astonishing. Instead he has developed what might be called an off-side smear - a sort of square drive from a low, knees-bent position, the bat arcing with the direction of spin as the ball is pitched up on off stump. His placement is clinical. The other noticeable addition to his repertoire is the "bunt" over the top. Cook sixes for England were as rare as empty buses in these parts. But with silky footwork, he advanced up the pitch in Ahmedabad and planted Ohja far over deep midwicket with a short-arm punch. Here at Eden Gardens, more memorably, he sidled up the pitch to Ashwin and smote him majestically into the pavilion. It was a stroke Brian Lara could not have bettered. With his batting in such perfect sync, he has even started unfurling a regal off drive against the fast bowlers - one on Friday off Zaheer Khan was startling in its crisp dismissiveness. He is becoming a phenomenon. What is more, not only is he prolific in these conditions, but he is now as compelling to watch as the imperturbable rickshaw driver making his way across Calcutta's teeming intersections. And that is saying something.