England fightbacks, Root praises Pope as "an absolute masterclass."
Senior England batsman Joe Root praised his junior colleague Ollie Pope on Saturday, January 27, after the latter's fifth Test century enabled the visitors to mount a valiant comeback. Root went so far as to call the innings "an absolute masterclass on how to bat in these conditions as an overseas player," calling it one of the best knocks he had ever seen.
With a 126-run advantage going into the third day's play, England appeared likely to give India a challenging goal in the first Test of the five-match series in Hyderabad, where they finished Day 3 at 316 for 6. Pope's perfect 148 was a major contributing factor in that.
With Ben Stokes at his side, Ollie Pope added 112 runs for the sixth wicket and a tough fifth Test century to keep England rolling on a captivating third day in Hyderabad. At Tea, Indian bowlers Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah had the visitors on the mat at 172 for 5. But Pope turned things around, leading England to victory at the close of the day by 126 runs. Very importantly, Pope's 148* is the highest score by a visiting batsman against India in the second innings since Alastair Cook's 176 in Ahmedabad in 2012, the first Test in India's most recent home series loss.
If England is to survive in this match, they will need to muster a lot more determination on Day 4 and Day 5 with more individual performances from other England players.
Scores (at the end of Day 3):
England 246 & 316/6 (Ollie Pope 148*, Ben Duckett 47; Jasprit Bumrah 2-29, Ravichandran Ashwin 2-93) lead India 436 (Ravindra Jadeja 87, KL Rahul 86; Joe Root 4/79) by 126 runs
(image credit: https://www.skysports.com)

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