Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes put on a heroic show on Saturday with their backs to the wall, batting with determination and utilizing every trick in the book to rattle the bowlers. However, Axar Patel’s final delivery of the 67th over stayed low on the third day’s surface at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. With the ball at ankle height smashing into the stumps, Foakes’ valiant 104-run stand with Pope came to an end. The sixth wicket partnership had extended the margin to 85 points when captain Ben Stokes was cheaply removed at the team total of 163.
England, trailing India by 190 after the first innings, managed to reach 316/6 at stumps thanks to Pope’s incredible unbroken 148. With England leading by 126 runs, a chase of 175 runs or more may prove challenging.
Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, the openers, performed well in the second inning, but Pope was the main attraction of the day. His century will rank among the greatest ever scored by an international hitter in India. Alastair Cook’s historic 176 in the second innings of the opening Test match of the 2012 series at Ahmedabad is being compared to it.
India has been the stronger team in this match, with the exception of Day 3. However, England has excelled in one area of the game—Powell turning a knock into a massive one. However, three Indian batsmen—Yashasvi Jaiswal (80), KL Rahul (86), and Ravindra Jadeja (87)—were removed in the 1980s. Pope struck an amazing 148* at a strike rate of nearly 71 from 208 balls, including 17 fours.
