Hyderabad (Telangana): Ollie Pope played an innings of 196, which has given England a strong advantage as they scored a total of 420 runs by lunch on Day 04 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday. Currently India needs 231 runs to win the Test match.
The day started with Pope and Rehan Ahmed batting for England in the morning session of day four. Jasprit Bumrah made the breakthrough by dismissing Rehan Ahmed for 28 runs in the 83rd over.
However Pope and Tom Hartley remained unfazed. Held their ground helping England maintain control over the game.. In the 101st over Ravichandran Ashwin managed to end their partnership by dismissing Hartley for 34 runs.
After Hartleys dismissal England struggled to score as Indias bowling attack took advantage. Ravindra Jadeja got his wicket on day four by removing Mark Wood without scoring a run in the 102nd over. The final blow of the day came from Bumrah, who dismissed Pope for a knock of 196 runs in the 103rd over bringing Englands second innings total to 420 runs.
Bumrah ended with four wickets, Ashwin with three Jadeja with two and Axar Patel with one. Unfortunately Mohammed Siraj went wicketless during his seven, over spell.
Despite the difficulties Rohit Sharmas team has five sessions in the first Test match to chase down a total of 231 runs for victory.
Recapping the events of day three at the end of play Englands score stood at 316/6 with a lead of 126 runs. Ollie Pope (148) and Rehan Ahmed (16) remained unbeaten. After Tea, Pope and Ben Foakes resumed their innings at 172/5. Continued their partnership causing frustration for India. They added 112 runs for the wicket before Axar Patel dismissed Foakes for 34 runs in the 67th over. Rehan Ahmed then joined centurion Pope. Together they managed to survive until the end of play demonstrating a strong performance in the second session, by both English batsmen and the Indian bowling unit.
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).