England batsman Ollie Pope led the charge for England on Day 3 of the first IND vs ENG test match to be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Pope was unbeaten on 148 runs off 208 balls, and the visitors finished the day on 316/6 in 77 overs. Pope has hit a total of 17 fours during his innings and will be hoping to convert them into a big double century.
Apart from scoring a wonderful hundred, Ollie Pope also played a shot that reminded cricket fans of former Sri Lankan opener Tillakaratne Dilshan. Pope fired a signature shot at Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja which went over goalkeeper KS Bharat for a boundary. The incident took place on the fourth ball of the 70th over of the second innings, and Pope probably reminded fans of the famous ‘dilscoop’.
Watch: Ollie Pope reminds fans of Tillakaratne Dilshan during IND vs ENG first Test
One of the great innings for England from Ollie Pope today in India. Genius.
What do you call this shot? pic.twitter.com/haHPQQ5qey
– Matthew Stadlen (@MatthewStadlen) January 27, 2024
However, Tillakaratne Dilshan never played this shot with a left-arm spinner. He always used to easily guide the medium pacers over the wicketkeepers’ heads for fours and sixes. However, he would have the pace of Ravindra Jadeja, which could have allowed Ollie Pope to take the shot with greater ease and ease.
India scored 436 runs in their first innings and gained a lead. Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was dismissed for 87 runs and missed out on a well-deserved hundred. KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal also missed centuries and scored 86 and 80 runs respectively.
England got off to a decent start once again thanks to England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett. The duo added 45 runs for the first wicket and helped the team get off to a steady start. Crawley was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin, while Duckett lost his off-stump to Jasprit Bumrah. Soon after Duckett’s departure, Bumrah trapped Joe Root in front of the wickets for 2 runs.
Wickets continued to fall from one end as Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow were also dismissed cheaply for 6 and 10 runs respectively. Ollie Pope got much-needed support from Ben Foakes and along with him, Pope managed 112 runs off 183 balls. Foakes was dismissed for 34 runs off 81 balls. At the end of day 3, England leads by 126 runs and will aim to score a big goal for the Indian cricket team.
Indian bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin picked up 2 wickets each, while Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja finished day 3 with 1 wicket each.
Earlier, England scored 246 runs in their first innings and captain Ben Stokes was the top run-scorer with 70 runs off 88 balls. The Indian spinners shared 8 of the 10 wickets between them and in return, India took a lead of 189 runs while batting in response to England’s first innings score.
India will want to start the five-match series with a victory to add the necessary points to the World Test Championship qualification.