Ollie Pope's bold century and a 112-run partnership with Ben Foakes allowed England to bounce back following impressive displays by Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin, which had caused frustration for the visiting team on the third day of the first Test match at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday.
At the end of the day's play, England's total was 316 for the loss of six wickets, leading by 126 runs, with Ollie Pope scoring 148 and Rehan Ahmed on 16, both not out at the crease.
After the tea interval, England's batting resumed with a score of 172/5. Pope and Ben Foakes picked up where they had left off, maintaining their strong performance without showing any weakness. As a result, India found themselves under pressure for a short time.
The pair continued to balance prudence and boldness, and their remarkable collaboration resulted in Pope scoring a century.
Pope and Foakes displayed a resilient defense to thwart India's efforts, combining for a notable 112-run partnership for the sixth wicket. However, in the 67th over, Axar Patel achieved a breakthrough by dismissing Foakes for 34 runs, thereby ending their solid partnership.
Rehan Ahmed joined centurion Pope at the crease and together they held firm in the middle, ensuring that England did not lose a wicket until the close of play.
In the ongoing first Test match, the second session on day three saw an even performance from both the English batters and the Indian bowlers, with both sides displaying impressive skills.
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah took the first wicket of the second session by getting rid of Ben Duckett, who had scored 47 runs off 52 balls in the 19th over. Despite showing aggression in hitting boundaries, the English opener succumbed to the pace of the Indian bowler.
Bumrah took his second wicket by dismissing Joe Root, who scored two runs from six balls, during the 21st over. Following Bumrah's success in claiming important wickets, the spinners were called upon to continue the impressive performance.
Ravindra Jadeja claimed his initial wicket of the second innings by getting Jonny Bairstow out for 10 runs from 24 balls in the 28th over. In the meantime, Ashwin secured his third wicket by dismissing Ben Stokes for just two runs from 12 balls in the 37th over.
In the second part of the match, England achieved a total of 83 runs, while the home team managed to take four wickets. As the game progressed into the third session, Pope and Foakes were aiming to form a vital partnership.
At the start of the day, England's score was 89/1, with Ben Duckett (38*) and Ollie Pope (16*) at the crease during the lunch break.
On the third day of the first Test match, India began at 421/7 with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel batting. Nevertheless, Joe Root's aggressive bowling performance enabled the visiting team to seize control of the game by dismantling the vital partnership between Jadeja and Axar.
In the 120th over of India's first innings, Root took the wickets of Jadeja, who had scored 87 runs from 180 balls, and Jasprit Bumrah, who had not scored any runs on the very first ball. Root was aiming for a hattrick, but Mohammed Siraj prevented him from achieving it.
Despite Axar's presence on the crease, he also failed to stand against Rehan Ahmed in the 121st over, resulting in India's innings ending at 436 with a 190-run lead over England in Hyderabad. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett then opened for the visitors in the first session. However, Ashwin managed the only breakthrough in the 10th over by dismissing Crawley for 31 runs from 33 balls.
Scores at a glance: 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).
