England vice-captain Ollie Pope dug deep in the second innings of the opening Test match against India and rescued the side from a precarious position on Day 3 in Hyderabad.
Pope struck a terrific century on Day 3 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad and helped England take a 126-run lead against the Rohit Sharma-led team.
Pope hit his first century against India, his 5th in Test cricket overall, to guide England to a total of 316/6 at stumps on Day 3. Former England cricketers Eoin Morgan and Kevin Pietersen were left impressed by the batter and lauded his gritty effort.
“It has been an absolute joy to sit back and watch Pope go about his business. He has accumulated runs all around the ground and been very busy at the crease,” Morgan said while speaking on Sky Sports.
Ollie Pope’s Innings
The No. 3 batter for England had played a jittery innings when he came out to bat for the first time in the match. His start was similar, but slowly grew into the game and then took on the spinners with unconventional shots. Kevin Pietersen was impressed by the batter and said that the influence of Ben Stokes had rubbed off on him.
“The influence of his skipper and the mindset has definitely had a positive influence on his game. Pope came in at a time when England needed him to stand up and he did. He started jittery but that doesn’t matter,” Pietersen said during commentating in the game.
“A brilliant innings, one of composure, maturity and one that he will remember for a very long time. A brilliant hundred,” he further added.
England’s Final Session
Ollie Pope kept England alive in the game after Jasprit Bumrah and the rest of the India bowlers did well in the lunch session. England dominated the final session of the day and fought their way back into the match. Pope remained unbeaten at 148 alongside Rehan Ahmed, who looked unfazed by the spin of Ravichandran Ashwin late in the day.
