Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Top-order batter Ollie Pope smashed an unbeaten century, his ninth in Tests, as England trail India by 262 runs after reaching 209/3 in 49 overs at stumps on Day Two of the first Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series at Headingley on June 21.
It was a day when India were primed to get a big total, after reaching 430/3 – thanks to Shubman Gill making a career-best 147 and Rishabh Pant somersaulting his way to an astonishing 134 – his seventh ton in the format. But after Gill departed, India lost their last seven wickets for just 41 runs to be bowled out for 471 in 113 overs. A sudden burst of rain meant England’s innings had a delayed start, and they then had to deal with a menacing Jasprit Bumrah, who picked 3-45. But Pope and Ben Duckett added 122 runs for the second wicket to bring some normalcy into England’s innings.
While Duckett fell for 62, Pope overcame his usual nervous start to score his ninth Test hundred, laced with 13 fours, before walking off undefeated after putting England in a comfortable position. It also helped the duo that India’s bowling attack, minus Bumrah, wasn’t that penetrative.
In the opening over of England’s innings, with dark clouds looming around, Bumrah was on the money from the word go and was rewarded with Zak Crawley’s scalp. He got the ball to be straight, before getting it to move away at the last moment to induce an edge from Crawley and have him caught brilliantly by first slip.
But after that, England began to build their innings as Pope and Duckett took two fours each off Mohammed Siraj, who released the pressure built by Bumrah. India’s pace spearhead, despite an electrifying first spell, could have got Duckett out for 15 if Ravindra Jadeja didn’t drop his catch at backward point. With Prasidh Krishna being ineffective with his loose deliveries, it meant that there was no stopping Duckett and Pope.
After 17 overs, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja was brought into the attack and got a good turn and bounce on offer in his second over. Duckett, though, swept Jadeja for four to bring up his 14th Test fifty and the century of his stand with Pope, just before the tea break.
Pope got the final session underway with a late cut through the gap between third slip and gully, taking him to a half-century in 64 balls. But Bumrah found success when Duckett chopped onto his stumps and fell for 62 off 94 balls. Pope got a life on 60 when he tried to steer off Bumrah, but Yashasvi Jaiswal made a mess of the catch at third slip.
Siraj bowled with much better lengths, and that resulted in him trapping Joe Root lbw for seven, only for the batter to overturn it on review. Pope continued to grow in confidence by taking boundaries off Jadeja, Prasidh, and Shardul Thakur before getting his second straight off 125 balls through an inside edge off Bumrah.
