INDIA TOUR OF ENGLAND, 2025
A fine hundred from Ollie Pope led England’s strong reply © Getty
After a day of dominance with the bat by India, England fought their way back into the game, to claim the day’s honours even with a 265-run deficit. Ollie Pope registered his second Test ton in succession, leading England’s strong reply after bowling India out for 471. For the visitors, despite three centurions in the innings, it ended in a hurry. From 430/3 at one point, India lost their last seven wickets for just 41 runs to be bowled out for 471 – the lowest that any team has been bowled out in Test history with three individual hundreds. On top of that, England’s batting arrived as per reputation and made sure that India did not have it easy.
England’s start with the bat had hit an early speedbreaker with Jasprit Bumrah getting Zak Crawley caught at first slip with a pearler. Bumrah continued to be a threat right through his five-over spell, creating a couple of chances against Ben Duckett only to see chances grassed in the gully area by Yashasiv Jaiswal first and then Ravindra Jadeja. While he was in rhythm, India struggled for similar control at the other end. Mohammad Siraj was hit for 23 in his first four overs and his replacement Prasidh Krishna was hit at 6.40 as Duckett and Pope raced away.
Pope and Duckett were severe on everything that was in their scoring zones and kept the strike rotating over frequently. Duckett was the first to get to his fifty with a sweep off Jadeja. The partnership worth 122 largely belied the conditions on offer which had turned bowler-friendly under cloudy skies. Duckett finally fell in the third session with Bumrah coming back to knock him over off an inside edge. But that did little to deter Pope who flourished with a variety of dabs and cuts predominantly. He had some luck going his way when Jaiswal put down another chance off Bumrah, and made India pay for their blunders bringing up a brisk ton off 125 balls. His innings had guided England through a tricky phase first alongside Duckett when the ball had started doing a lot under overcast conditions when England’s bowlers had first made merry.
The second session had been interrupted by rain but before that England had made light work of wrapping up India’s tail. Josh Tongue picked up the last three wickets of the innings soon after the Lunch interval which continued England’s comeback with the ball before the break. Even the first session had been a tale of two halves. In the first hour, India managed 53/0 under better batting conditions but in the second, they lost four wickets for 42 runs allowing England back in with a sniff.
Before that sudden turnaround, India had threatened to get more with Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant continuing from where they left off overnight at 359/3. Pant had the license to break free, given the base that India had already built up. The pitch or the conditions had not changed by much allowing for more free-flowing strokeplay from both batters. Gill got going with a glorious off drive in the second over of the day but Pant was catching up soon. His first three boundaries of the day all came off Brydon Carse, and he began to open up more as the offspinner Shoaib Bashir came into the attack. He greeted him with a paddle for four before mowing him over midwicket for six in the same over. That took him into the nineties.
The hundred came with another swept six off Bashir bringing about a stylish hundred, and a somersault to celebrate. Another six followed in the same over which teased the long off fielder for a bit before he palmed it over while running back. But it signalled Pant’s intentions in switching gears with India also going past the 400-run mark. Gill, meanwhile, was coasting towards the milestone of 150 but just three runs short of it, he miscued a slog-sweep off Bashir to be caught at deep square leg. It ended a thrilling 209-run stand for the fourth wicket. And one brought two as comeback man Karun Nair’s stay ended in a blob being caught by a leaping Ollie Pope at short cover off Stokes.
In between, Pant kept going smoking Bashir for another six and nearly being stumped going for one more, and saved only because of a fumble by Jamie Smith. But his luck did not last long. England found some movement with the ball, and that brought about a few nervy moments before he was trapped LBW shouldering arms to Tongue. The review didn’t save him either but it provided an opening for England. Stokes grabbed it with both hands adding Shardul Thakur to his kitty at the stroke of lunch.
From thereon, it was England all the way as they continued to reverse the pressure on India with the bat as well through Pope in particular. But India had one final punch back towards the end of the day when Bumrah got Joe Root out for the tenth time in Test cricket, and ending a 80-run stand for the third wicket. Bumrah could have tilted the balance even further in the final over of the day if not for an overstep. He had Harry Brook caught at midwicket only to be saved by a no-ball, bringing an action-packed end to an entertaining day.
Brief Scores: India 471 (Shubman Gill 147, Rishabh Pant 134, Yashasvi Jaiswal 101; Ben Stokes 4-66, Josh Tongue 4-86) lead England 209/3 (Ollie Pope 100*, Ben Duckett 62; Jasprit Bumrah 3-48) by 262 runs.
© Cricbuzz
