Ollie Pope’s counter-attacking century and a 112-run stand with Ben Foakes helped England claw back after Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin’s tremendous spells left visitors frustrated on the third day of the ongoing first Test match here at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday.
At the time of Stumps, England’s score read 316/6 – lead by 126-run- with Ollie Pope (148) and Rehan Ahmed (16) unbeaten standing at the crease.
After the Tea break, England resumed their innings at 172/5. Pope and Ben Foakes continued from where they left off and the duo did not relent and India was put on the back foot straight away for a brief period of time.
The duo kept on mixing caution with aggression, and the stunning partnership also saw Pope slamming century.
Pope and Foakes put a strong rearguard to frustrate India and the pair added 112 for the sixth wicket. In the 67th over Axar Patel got the breakthrough as he removed Foakes for 34 runs, breaking a solid 112-run partnership.
Rehan Ahmed then came out to bat and with centurion Pope he ground it out in the middle as England did not lose a single wicket till the time of Stumps.
