After being outplayed by India in the first couple of days, England fought back brilliantly on Day 3 of the opening Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
After conceding a huge first-innings lead of 190 runs, England were struggling at 165/5 in their second essay. Just when the visitors were staring at innings defeat, Ollie Pope stepped up to the plate.
The right-hander slammed an attacking century to put the Indian bowlers on the backfoot. He added 112 runs for the sixth wicket with Ben Foakes to ensure that the tourists were in the lead.
Pope remained unbeaten on 148 off 208 balls to take England to 316/6 at stumps on Day 3, extending the second-innings lead to 126 runs.
Besides Ollie Pope’s hundred, the standout moment from the third day’s play was the rivalry between English batter Joe Root and India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
This time around, Bumrah got the better of Root as he extracted reverse swing to trap the former England skipper in front of the wicket, minutes after knocking over Ben Duckett.
During the post-day press conference, Root acknowledged Bumrah’s brilliance, hailing him as a “quality” bowler.
"One of my frustrations was to not still be there at the back end of it, but he's a quality bowler with a huge amount of skill and pace,'' Root said when he was asked about his dismissal off Bumrah's bowling.
“It's what you'd expect from a Test match, and a big moment in the game. I was disappointed not to get through it (Bumrah's spell). You know that for four or five overs he will charge in and throw everything at us," he added.
Root also joked that he dismissed Bumrah during India’s first innings and, thus, their rivalry currently stands at 1-1.
''So, 1-0 to him, although 1-1 actually as I got him out earlier. I'm sure that this battle will continue throughout the series,'' he quipped.
Widely regarded as one of the best batters of the modern era, Joe Root failed to leave a big mark in the Hyderabad Test. The classy right-hander registered scores of 29 and 2 across the two innings and will be keen to make amends in the second Test, slated to start on February 2 in Visakhapatnam.
