ENG vs IND | Pope ton after Indian collapse keeps England firmly in hunt on Day 2

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk,SportsCafe Editor

44

The first Test between India and England remained finely poised on Day 2 with the hosts going into Stumps at 209/3 in pursuit of the visitors’ first-innings total of 471. The Men in Blue lost their last seven wickets for just 41 runs after Rishabh Pant’s century had them in good stead.

Ollie Pope followed up the 171 against Zimbabwe with a ton against India at Headingley
Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant picked up where they had left off on Day 2 in Leeds as the duo added 71 quick runs against the second new ball in the first hour of play to push England onto the backfoot. The latter was particularly keen on playing his shots, taking on the various bowlers on different occasions, and soon enough brought up a 146-ball ton laced with 10 boundaries and four maximums. However, just as the pair seemed set to take India safely through to Lunch, an unprovoked slog from the captain saw Shoaib Bashir finally break through to end the 209-run stand. Thus began the collapse, as Karun Nair’s fairytale return to the Test side culminated in a four ball duck courtesy an exceptional diving catch from Ollie Pope. Josh Tongue found some reverse swing to send back Pant too shortly after, while Ben Stokes had Shardul Thakur nick behind at the stroke of Lunch as the score crumbled from 430/3 to 454/7.
The hosts made light work of the tail upon resumption to fold out India for 471 with the conditions growing overcast as Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett walked out to begin the second innings. The former last just six deliveries before a Jasprit Bumrah jaffa brought about his demise, with the pacer creating chaos with a fresh new Dukes only to be let down by two dropped catches. Duckett and Ollie Pope were quick to capitalize, punishing excessive width and stray lengths against Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna to keep scoring at a healthy rate. By the time the umpires took off the bails for Tea, the Three Lions had raced to 107/1 in just 24 hours with Duckett completing a 58-ball half-century.
Pope bettered the mark by four balls in the final session as the duo extended their second-wicket stand to 122 but Bumrah inevitably struck by crashing one through Duckett’s gate. Nevertheless, Pope kept marauding along at the other end with spells from Krishna and Shardul Thakur allowing him to deal in boundaries and bring up a 125-ball ton with Stumps impending. However, just when England seemed to have capped off a successful day, Joe Root edged one to slip in a brief Bumrah burst and the marquee pacer could have had Harry Brook for a duck too, had he not overstepped when the Yorkshireman cuffed a hook. The white-ball skipper remained on nought thereafter as England ended on 209/3.

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