Pope’s 196 Put England In Driver’s Seat, India Need 231 Runs To Win 1st Test (Day 04, Lunch)

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India] : Ollie Pope’s 196-run knock helped England to take an advantage as the visitors scored 420 runs at lunch on day 04 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday. Meanwhile, India need 231 runs to win the first Test match.

The day started as Pope and Rehan Ahmed came on the crease for the visitors to start the first session on day four.

Jasprit Bumrah made the first breakthrough of the day as the Indian speedster removed Rehan Ahmed for 28 runs in the 83rd over.

As the session continued, Pope and Tom Hartley stood still on the crease and kept batting to help England dominate the game.

However, in the 101st over, star Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was successful in breaking the solid 80-run partnership of Pope-Hartley. Ashwin dismissed Hartley for 34 runs.

After the dismissal of Hartley, England struggled to make runs and the India bowling attack took the best chance of it. Ravindra Jadeja picked his first wicket on day four after removing Mark Wood for 0 runs in the 102nd over.

The last wicket of the day came in the hands of Bumrah after he dismissed the dangerous Pope for 196 runs in the 103rd over to end England’s second inning at 420 runs.

In the second inning, Bumrah picked up four wickets, Ashwin scalped three, Jadeja took two and Patel had to settle for just one. Unfortunately, Mohammed Siraj failed to open his account during his seven-over spell.

However, Rohit Sharma’s side will get the remaining five sessions of the first Test match to score 231 runs to seal a victory.

Earlier on day three, At the time of Stumps, England’s score read 316/6 – lead by 126-run- with Ollie Pope (148) and Rehan Ahmed (16) unbeaten standing at the crease.

After the Tea break, England resumed their innings at 172/5. Pope and Ben Foakes continued from where they left off and the duo did not relent and India was put on the back foot straight away for a brief period of time.

The duo kept on mixing caution with aggression, and the stunning partnership also saw Pope slamming century. Pope and Foakes put a strong rearguard to frustrate India and the pair added 112 for the sixth wicket. In the 67th over Axar Patel got the breakthrough as he removed Foakes for 34 runs, breaking a solid 112-run partnership.

Rehan Ahmed then came out to bat and with centurion Pope he ground it out in the middle as England did not lose a single wicket till the time of Stumps. The second session on day three of the first Test match was even as both the English batters and the Indian bowling displayed a stellar performance.

Brief score: England 246 & 420 (Ollie Pope 196, Ben Duckett 47; Jasprit Bumrah 4-41) vs India 436 (Ravindra Jadeja 87, KL Rahul 86, Yashasvi Jaiswal 80; Joe Root 4-79).