Ollie Pope’s counter-attacking century and a 112-run stand with Ben Foakes helped England claw back after Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin’s tremendous spells left visitors frustrated on the third day of the ongoing first Test match here at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday.

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.
Earlier, 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.

Ollie Pope has scored a Test hundred in India against Bumrah, Ashwin, Jadeja, Axar, Siraj. 🫡 pic.twitter.com/YV6thXqQmI

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) January 27, 2024

Pacer Jasprit Bumrah made the first breakthrough of the second session after he dismissed Ben Duckett (47 runs from 52 balls) in the 19th over. The English opener was in full mood to hit boundaries but fell short infront of the Indian speedster.

Bumrah picked his second wicket after he removed Joe Root (2 runs from 6 balls) in the 21st over. After the Indian pacer scalped a few crucial wickets, it was time for the spinners to perform.
Ravindra Jadeja bagged his first wicket of the second inning after he dismissed Jonny Bairstow (10 runs from 24 balls) in the 28th over. Meanwhile, Ashwin’s third wicket came after he took Ben Stokes’ (2 runs from 12 balls) in the 37th over.

In the second session, England scored 83 runs. On the other hand, the hosts picked up 4 wickets. Meanwhile, Pope and Foakes will be looking forward to making a crucial partnership in the third session.

Earlier in the day, England stood at 89/1, with Ben Duckett (38*) and Ollie Pope (16*) unbeaten on the crease at lunch.
Day three of the first Test match started with India at 421/7 with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel on the crease, However, Joe Root’s fiery spell helped the visitors to take control of the game by breaking the crucial partnership of Jadeja-Axar.In the third and fourth ball of the 120th over of India’s first inning, Root dismissed Jadeja (87 runs from 180 balls) and Jasprit Bumrah (0 runs from 1 ball) respectively. Root was looking for a hattrick in the game, but Mohammed Siraj did not give him the chance.

Even though Axar was on the crease, but he too fell short in front of Rehan Ahmed in the 121st over, ending India’s inning at 436 with a 190-run lead against England in Hyderabad. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett opened for the visitors later in the first session. However, Ashwin made the only breakthrough in the 10th over after he dismissed Crawley for 31 runs from 33 balls.
Brief score: England 246 & 316/6 (Ollie Pope 148*, Ben Duckett 47; Jasprit Bumrah 2-29) vs India 436 (Ravindra Jadeja 87, KL Rahul 86, Yashasvi Jaiswal 80; Joe Root 4-79).

(ANI)

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