India vs England 1st Test Day 2: Ollie Pope’s century helps England make strong reply

Test matches are typically absorbing. Saturday’s play at Headingley provided much more. It was enthralling, with Ollie Pope leading the England fightback with an unbeaten century after India collapsed spectacularly to 471 after a promise of over 500.

England finished the second day of the first Test of the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy series at 209/3 with Pope on 100 not out and Harry Brook yet to open his account. It could have been worse for England had Ravindra Jadeja clung on to a Ben Duckett catch and Yashasvi Jaiswal not spilled a thick edge from Pope — Jasprit Bumrah was the bowler on both occasions.

Duckett went on to score a half-century and Pope made it to three figures — both knocks helped England regain lost ground — they are 262 adrift of India’s total. Bumrah was the lone Indian bowler to make an impact, sending back Zak Crawley, Duckett (62) and Joe Root (28). Mohammed Siraj threatened at times, while Prasidh Krishna leaked runs.

Earlier, India slumped from 430/3 to 471 all out, squandering the chance to bat England out of the game. English captain Ben Stokes, who erred in sending India to bat, would have heaved a sigh of relief as seven Indian wickets fell for 41 runs, which kept England’s hopes alive.

Resuming Day 2 on 359 for 3, India quickly consolidated their position through a 209-run partnership between Shubman Gill and Pant. Gill, who added 129 runs with Jaiswal (101) the previous day, crafted a fluent 147 before falling to off-spinner Shoaib Bashir.

Pant, playing his first Test in England since returning from injury, lit up the day with a sparkling 134 off 178 deliveries — the third Indian century of the match after Gill and Jaiswal. His aggressive knock marked his seventh Test century and his fourth against England — surpassing MS Dhoni’s record for most Test hundreds by an Indian wicketkeeper.

Karun Nair, making a dramatic return to Test cricket after eight years in the wilderness, lasted only four balls, falling for a duck. Ollie Pope brought off a goalkeeper-style catch to dismiss him, off the bowling of captain Ben Stokes, who also accounted for Shardul Thakur, caught behind.

Tongue returned to grab three more wickets to polish off the Indian tail, lending respectability to his figures, which read 4-86. Stokes was the best English bowler today, and he finished with 4-66.

Brief scores:

India: 454/7 (Shubman Gill 147, Rishabh Pant 134, Yashasvi Jaiswal 101, KL Rahul 42, Ben Stokes 4-66, Josh Tongue 4-86) vs England: 209/3 (Ollie Pope 100 not out, Ben Duckett 62, Jasprit Bumrah 3-48)