India vs England Highlights, 1st Test Day 3: Ollie Pope (148*) makes IND sweat as ENG lead by 126 runs

Zak Crawley: "We're happy, unbelievable knock by Ollie. Few more runs in the morning it could be a tricky chase. (Talk before the start of the innings) Bat like the first innings, the batters did that really well, very pleased. (On getting out to Ashwin twice) He bowled a nice ball today, he's allowed to do that. nothing changes for me. We can learn a lot from Ollie. It was something we have grown up with (playing sweeps and reverse-sweeps), it's a nice way to put them off their lengths. We would have taken this for sure, another 45-50 runs, it could be a tricky chase for them, (On Rehan Ahmed) He's an amazing talent, he's very confident as well, hopefully he can get some runs in the morning."

A rare half-tracker from Ravichandran Ashwin sees Rehan Ahmed free his arms to secure his second boundary. He's been positive in his short outing so far, England have been positive today, and Ollie Pope has had a lot to do with it. Unbeaten at 148 and England finish Day 3 with a 126 run lead and the Hyderabad crowd rises to give a standing ovation to the English vice captain. 

"Getting even 170 in the fourth innings won't be easy," reckons Sunil Gavaskar on the comms. 

England have done really well today to come back into this game. An early moppage with the ball has been followed by a day-long sweepage with the bat. Three overs left in the day and the visitors lead by 117 runs with four wickets in hand. 

The Indian shoulders have dropped off as we come to a close of Day 3. 

England goes past 300. Bumrah is struggling with cramps at the moment it might be his last over and he might walk back after this. England will be elated with the way things have gone in this game. India would also be taken aback by the way things have gone so far in this inning. 

Ollie Pope is continuing on his way now. He is taking his chances now and getting quick boundaries away. All these runs are valuable for England. Ben Stokes would be hoping Jack Leach can get his knee in condition for tomorrow so that they can have a fighting chance tomorrow against India. However, it has been a fabulous effort from England. There would be a few who will feel nostalgic about that 2012 series and Test match from Ahemadabad. 

Finally, there is the wicket. It is Axar Patel who picks Foakes. Timely wicket for the Indians against the run of the play. 10 more overs are left in the day's play and Rehan Ahmed has walked into the middle. Rohit Sharma needs to maintain the right balance of attacking enough and not letting the runs flow here to quickly. England's lead is almost 100 now. Given the nature of the wicket, it must not be a challenge but the pitch is getting easier to bat as each day is passing by. 

Dropped chance. Axar drops Pope as he tries to reverse sweep and gets the top edge. The shoulders are dropping of the Indian fielders and Rohit Sharma is looking a bit frustrated now. Nobody would have seen this coming. This is getting into a zone of more than manageable total for India in the final innings. India if they are not able to pick wickets they need to contain runs here. This is not at all a good situation India is getting themselves at this point. The bowlers too are getting tired and bowling a lot more loose ones. 

YES, POPEY! ? ?

A HUGE century when we needed it most! ?

Match Centre: https://t.co/s4XwqqpNlL

?? #INDvENG ??????? | @OPope32 pic.twitter.com/vxB8CPsoJ4

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) January 27, 2024

The surface has become easier and easier to bat here. Until the new ball comes unless the batter themselves make a mistake it is hard to see a wicket fall. Meanwhile, as we update Pope got to his 100. What a batting effort it has been from him. Going forward in the series will give him a lot of confidence. He will back himself to make runs against the likes of Ashwin, Axar, and Jadeja. And we also have another situation where we are seeing a change in the ball. India will be hoping that a change of ball give them a change of fortune here. 

Ollie Pope has got to the 90s now. What a fabulous knock it is turning out to be from him. If one batter can step up as he did every time England come out to bat they will be able to post decent totals on the board regularly. As of now, England is also scoring boundaries and they are maintaining the tempo. It seems like India will have quite a lot to chase in the final innings with the way these two are batting add a few more cameos from the tail England asking India to chase around that 150-run mark is looking like a real possibility at the moment. 

Most International dismissals by R Ashwin

16 - Ben Stokes*
14 - David Warner
14 - L Thirimanne
11 - Alastair Cook
  9 - Darren Bravo

The pitch has gone to bed here as the ball got older. There is a turn but because of the lack of pace on the surface, the batters seem to have that extra second to get adjusted. The batters too seem to be looking to rotate strike and keep the scoreboard ticking at this point. Bumrah is bowling at the moment he does have that extra pace to trouble the batters. We might also see Siraj bowling a spell here if the wicket won't fall sooner. 

Bumrah has been brought into the attack from Axar Patel's end. Pope and Foakes have batted quite well so far. They have kept the bowlers at bay since they got together and made sure India will bat again in the game. However, we are a long way away from the end of the play and if India can pick one wicket they will be into bowlers. For all their ability, batting facing this quality of spin on this kind of surface is very difficult. England has gone ahead and from their perspective, they would be hoping to stretch that lead 100-120 runs and see if they can pick a few wickets do some damage to batters confidence.

Pope is continuing on his way. This is what England would have wanted one of their batters to spend time in the middle. Pope coming at three has played a solid hand here. Though he played a lot of shots early on in his innings he has settled down nicely. He is pushing the ball into the gaps converting this one into twos and punishing the loose balls as well. He is closing in on that 100. Once again the longer he bats the more concerning it will be for the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma. And as we update scores are level now.

Axar Patel and Jadeja will be continuing after the break as there are two right-handers. Axar has been poor today he has struggled to maintain any sort of pressure. England is closing in on the lead and India will bat again that much is assured. The question is if it would happen today or tomorrow. It has been quite a fightback from the England side. If they can sort their bowling out going forward in the series we might have quite a competitive series on our hands. But as of now Foakes and Pope need to build a partnership here. 

About a month back, Novak Djokovic, on CBS’s 60 minutes, had shared a secret that has made him history’s deadliest predator on a tennis court. Between games, while sitting on the bench; Djokovic said, his eyes are always focused on the big screen as he is busy reading the close-up frame of his unsuspecting rival. “I am looking at him … how is he drinking water, is he sweating more than usual, is he breathing deeply or not. I look at how he is communicating with his team .. all these elements really affect the performance and the game itself.”

On Friday at the Australian Open, Djokovic, for close to three-and-half hours over 4 sets, tried looking for clues to crack the 22-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner. He didn’t spot any and suffered an epic loss in the semi-final. Maybe, Djokovic was wasting his time, the young challenger was inscrutable. (Read more from Sandeep Dwivedi)

That's the end of the session after the mauling the Indian bowlers took briefly before Lunch the bowlers came resoundingly back in that noon session. Bumrah was class apart and then Ashwin and Jadeja chipped in with crucial wickets each. India needs to pick five more wickets and England still trail by 18 runs. Once again for England, it has been a tale of could be's and would be's like first innings. One big partnership might have done the trick but not meant to be. A lot rests on Pope after Tea if England needs to post a decent total they need him to make a big score from here on. 

Ben Stokes has made the perennial mistake of getting stuck at one end and facing the music of one bowler which eventually cost him his cost. Ashwin has bowled far too much to Stokes. Not only he was stuck but did he put any effort into looking for a single and change strike? Foakes has walked into the middle and this is the last recognized pairing and one more wicket here we might see the game done and dusted by the end of today. 

Since Ben Stokes has come in the life out of the game has been sussed out. He is playing more in survival mode at this point, especially against Ashwin whom he is not able to pick. Jadeja at the other end is bowling quicker through the air and is getting overs done at a brisk pace. And the run rate too has gone significantly down. England still trailed by under 40 runs and sooner rather than later they will get past India's total. Kudos to England batters the way they have come out here today. As we update Ashwin picks Stokes. 

Both Pope and Stokes would be better off taking a single and changing ends here because as of now Indian spinners are getting their match-ups which are left-arm spinner bowling to Pope and off-spinner bowling to Ashwin. If both batters are stuck at either end given the quality of the bowlers it won't take too long for the bowlers will deliver a wicket ball. It helps the bowlers set up the batters as well which was pretty evident in that last over when Ashwin bowled a masterful over to Stokes. 

Ollie Pope has reached his half-century. He started a bit frantically however, as the innings went on he looked better and better. He has been proactive with his shot selection he looked to come down the track and play reverse sweeps and play with the minds of the bowlers. As per bowling on the other hand Ravindra Jadeja is settling into a nice spell here. He is letting the oddball turn and the oddball comes in sharply. In the last over Ollie Pope did manage them well but sooner or later there might be an unplayable delivery because of the track.

Ravindra Jadeja gets Bairstow the ball pitches and turns back in and Bairstow hoping it would go with the angle gets beaten. This is where Axar and Jadeja are masters not letting the batters read which turns and which won't. Bairstow got himself out in the first innings missing the line of the ball completely and on this occasion,, he makes a deliberate choice to leave the ball. Ben Stokes has walked into the middle. He played an excellent knock in the first innings and he needs to replicate something similar to that here. 

We have reached the water break and it has been arguably the best hour of cricket we had through the Test match. England looked comfortable against spin and then it was Bumrah who took the responsibility and delivered. He bowled a spell in which it looked like he was going to pick a wicket every ball. It will be interesting to see if Rohit will give him one more over or bring in the spinners from both ends. There are two left-handers in the middle and it might be two left-arm spinners who will be brought into the attack.

As we expected Ravindra Jadeja has been brought in from the end Siraj has been bowling. Jonny Bairstow has walked into the middle and he looked comfortable so far. He did bat well in the first innings before getting out to a beauty from Axar Patel. The change in his technique has been pretty evident once again in this innings so far where he tends to play the ball more with the hands and not let the pads come in the way taking LBW out of the equation and once again his technique is looking well-oiled. 

Bairstow has walked into the middle. The batter has had troubles in the past facing full deliveries and expects plenty of them against Bumrah especially with the ball reversing. The mood in the game has changed drastically in the stadium and the crowd has been more vocal. The interesting part will be how long Rohit will wait to go back to spin again as Siraj though has not given many runs has not looked as threatening as Bumrah.  However, credit must be given to Bumrah he has turned the game on its head. 

The ball is reverse swinging at the moment and Rohit has decided to bring in both Siraj and Bumrah from either end. Siraj too is a masterful exponent of old ball. While there has been talk about the spinners here we are in the noon session Bumrah is making batters dance to his tunes. Perks of having a world-class fast bowler who can take the pitch out of the equation. This is going to be as testing spell for the batters as much as they would be facing Ashwin and Jadeja. 

Jasprit Bumrah picks Ben Duckett. Finally, the bowler had the last laugh. Duckett tried to play an off-side missed it completely and ball hits the stumps and the bowler was pumped up. That mini session of batting has had quite a bit of effect on the Indian team they are all very animated. Duckett is also a crucial wicket because he was the batter who was not letting the spinners settle. He was sweeping the life out of them. However, man for all seasons Bumrah does the damage. As we update Siraj has been brought into attack pace from both ends.

Jasprit Bumrah and Ashwin have started after the break and both Duckett and Pope are batting where they have left off before lunch break. There have been no signs of any more sweeps so far but the impact is seen on Ashwin as he is trying to bowl that much fuller premiedating that the batters are going to sweep which is making the batters give away easy singles meanwhile in Bumrah's last over he appealed for a LBW decision which on-field umpire gave not out and Bharat reckoned it was going down the leg-side however, on replay on the big-screen it has shown it was hitting the leg-stump. Things are not going India's way at the moment. 

We have seen the first glimpse of Bazball in that session. We have to wait and see how India will respond to it. England is not going to buckle down they are going to play as they have in recent times. The ball is now in India's court let us see how they respond to it. 

Naushad Khan was flooded with congratulatory messages and calls the moment he switched on his phone after landing in Mumbai. His elder son, Sarfaraz, playing for India A, had scored a first-class century against England Lions in Ahmedabad, while 7,625km away at Bloemfontein, his younger one Musheer had scored a match-winning ton in India’s 201-run win over Ireland in the U-19 World Cup. (Read more from Pratyush Raj)

Monty Panesar’s wicket of Sachin Tendulkar in the 2012 series is probably a dream dismissal for any spinner. The ball pitched on the middle stump and turned sharply to hit the top of the off-stump, while the batter was trying to work the ball on the leg side. The ball after pitching fizzed through giving the batter no time to adjust. The speed gun read 95.4 KPH. (Read more)

Last winter, when Australia toured India, KL Rahul was battling for a spot in the Test side. With a red-hot Shubman Gill waiting in the wings, mid-way through the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India benched him for the final two Tests. He had gone more than a year without a century in Tests, struggling for runs across conditions. In the time he spent away from the Test side, and especially since his return from injury in August, his stocks have only been increasing. In a period where he has turned into a source of runs, especially in crisis situations, India could no longer overlook him even in Tests. (Read more from Venkata Krishna B)

Well, there is a change in the script. England batters have come all guns blazing and are going after the Indian spinners and it is working at the moment. Ben Duckett has been fabulous so far in this mini-session. It is not often that happens to Indian spinners in India they look a bit shell-shocked on how to respond. England has cut down almost half the deficit already. It is still a lot of runs to get for England to get ahead but the problem has been the scoring rate. India has to come up with different plans post-lunch especially in terms of field sets. 

Ben Duckett is playing some sublime sweep shots here. He seems to have terrific hand-eye coordination and Axar at this point seems to be affected by it. Every time Duckett is playing the shot it has been running away for a boundary. 

Ashwin picks up Crawley. It was a brilliant ball from the spinner he tossed the ball nicely bringing the batter forward and Crawley tried to defend the ball beaten in the flight and got the outside edge to Rohit. Much needed a wicket for India as the partnership was looking to play their shots. Olli Pope has walked into the middle and he did play a reverse sweep of the second ball. Meanwhile, Duckett too keeps just reverse-sweeping Axar time and again reaping the rewards. The bowler is looking a bit frustrated with it at the moment. 

Crawley is playing a lovely knock here. He is seeing the ball and hitting the ball. Though there is enough on offer because they are playing shots and getting those boundaries away it is not letting India settle down to one sort of rhythm. Also, Crawley is looking to face Ashwin and Duckett is looking to absorb pressure put by Axar which is helping the match-ups at this point. One thing that is clear so far in the two innings is India cannot afford to let Crawley settle in and play longer innings because if he does he will take the game away from the opposition. 

India has opted to go with in-out fields at the moment. We have seen Rohit in the first innings as soon as the partnership was growing he opted to go with more of a white-ball field where the focus is on building dots and drying up those easy singles. We are still not there yet. At this point, he has close-in fielders and this ball is doing enough. England openers Crawley and Duckett too are looking to sweep the ball and get their runs as well. Looks like they are not going to die wandering here. 

Ben Duckett has been vocal about how he is going to sweep the Indian spinner ahead of the series. All the talk was good before the series but now on the surface,, it is a different ball game altogether. Also,, the odd ball is keeping low and one is bouncing. We might see Rohit bring in Axar soon into the attack who can keep hitting the stumps consistently and when that odd ball keeps low he will be impossible to face. We highly doubt if Siraj would get a single over in this innings. 

Welcome back both openers Crawley and Duckett have walked into the middle and Jasprit Bumrah has taken the new ball for India. We might see a spinner coming from the other end. Given Ashwin's good record against Ben Duckett, we might see the former taking the new ball from the other end. Once again this is a very difficult pitch to bat and England needs to be cleverer in the way how they are going to go about it. If all they will do is look to play shots then there is a high chance that they might fall like a deck of cards by evening. 

It took almost an hour for England to get through India. It was Rehan Ahmed who got the final wicket but Joe Root has been the star of the day for England once again with the ball. It is a lot of runs that England is behind. It is hard to see how they will come back in this game given how much the surface is turning once again today. It will be more about batters spending time in the middle which will help them in future games. Let's say if England can make India bat again that would be a massive achievement and they can take a lot of confidence out of it and it means one of the batter would have played a stunning knock.

Joe Root gets the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja. The batter got the nice stride forward and the ball hit the pad to which Root appealed and was given out. However, Jadeja sent it upstairs replay showed a spike when the ball was between the bat and the pad. There was no conclusive evidence of what happened. The third umpire went with the on-field umpire and decided it was pad first and proceeded to ball tracking and there were two umpire's calls in that as well. Jadeja should consider himself unlucky. The following ball Root bowled another brilliant delivery to get rid of Bumrah. 

It has been a sedate start by the Indians 30 minutes into the day's play. The game has not changed much since the last night. The batters are biding their time hoping Stokes would get in the less experienced bowlers sooner rather than later so they can capitalize on them. There is still plenty of time left in the game and India can bat as long as they want to. Another thing which has been problematic in the morning has been overrates. Stokes has been constantly tinkering with the fields which is not letting the game go anywhere. 

Joe Root is getting a turn of the surface which we did not see much yesterday. The expectation was that the wicket would continue to get slower and the batters would have that extra time to adjust. However, Root has been exceptional with the ball one of the strengths he has compared to other spinners in the side is Root tends to bowl a bit quicker in the high 90s. The remaining attack has been in early 80 KPH. Though young Hartley has the pace and is tall enough to create trouble he has not been accurate enough to put enough pressure on the batters. 

Both Indian batters Jadeja and Axar need to be aware that Wood is not going to bowl a longer spell here. It will be about a 3-4 overs burst for him and Stokes has to turn to either one of the left-arm spinners or leg-spinner Rehan who can be cashed upon by the left-handers at the crease. From England's perspective, they want the current bowling combination to create the breakthrough if these two keep batting they not only are capable of scoring big runs but doing them at a brisk pace. 

Mark Wood took the first over of the day for England, which is an interesting choice by Stokes. The atmosphere is buzzing again here in Hyderabad. There was not a lot of swing or anything but there were a few plays and misses one would expect that because of the pace of the bowler. As we update Joe Root has taken the ball from the other end. Not a bad choice given there are two left-handers at the crease. Stokes is taking his time in between the overs looks like he is in no hurry to bowl the overs and suck out as much time as possible from this game. 

Extremely rewarding, extremely challenging, really interesting, I have loved my time here, it's been great working with the team, with a great bunch of cricketers. Lot to look forward to still. Some great results, have been part of some great series, great wins. Since WTC has come into picture, we've been made to play on much more challenging wickets as a batting unit, a great challenge when you play on these kinds of wickets. There 's a lot to learn as players and coaches. You need to help them, understand what the conditions are bringing and what kind of gameplans will work. (Gameplan today) Score as many as we can, nothing else, we still have a lot of time in the Test match. We'll look to keep batting as much as we can. Hoping that Jadeja goes on and scores a hundred, a well deserved hundred. Cricket has changed, absolutely no doubt about that. The wickets have changed, the bats have changed, everything about cricket has changed, cricket is being played in a more aggressive manner nowadays and I love it. I really enjoy this kind of cricket. The idea is to play good cricket. If the conditions and situations allow you to go and play your shots, they should go and do that. That's what we are doing well in this game.

"It's a very pleasant morning. England are way behind, India in the driver's seat. We are set for a bumper day of Test match cricket. There are footholes, Mark Wood has created better opportunities for the Indian spinners, especially Ashwin to make best use of what would be a very good length for Ashwin to bowl to the right-handers. KL Rahul felt that it has slowed down. On day one, the pitch was 0.5 metres quicker than what it was on day two. That's a very big difference. It allows the batter to adjust. My view is that it's going to spin a long way and we could see a Test match that finishes today."

Monty Panesar’s wicket of Sachin Tendulkar in the 2012 series is probably a dream dismissal for any spinner. The ball pitched on the middle stump and turned sharply to hit the top of the off-stump, while the batter was trying to work the ball on the leg side. The ball after pitching fizzed through giving the batter no time to adjust. The speed gun read 95.4 KPH. (Read more)

At the end of Day One, of a series that promises plenty of thrills and twists, Yashasvi Jaiswal, with an unbeaten 76 off 70 deliveries, has opened up a glaring hole in England’s set-up that has the potential to bury them down. Their inexperience.

Two of their three spinners with a combined experience of just one Test before this are not showing sufficient signs of complimenting Jack Leach, whose control alone may not be enough for them to get the job done, particularly on a pitch that is on the slower side. How much their decision to go without a second seamer could cost them only time will tell, but India have, so far, made full use of it. (Read more from Venkata Krishna B)

Naushad Khan was flooded with congratulatory messages and calls the moment he switched on his phone after landing in Mumbai. His elder son, Sarfaraz, playing for India A, had scored a first-class century against England Lions in Ahmedabad, while 7,625km away at Bloemfontein, his younger one Musheer had scored a match-winning ton in India’s 201-run win over Ireland in the U-19 World Cup. (Read more from Pratyush Raj)

Hyderabad’s Tanmay Agarwal became the player to hit the fastest triple hundred in first class cricket when he scored 300 in a Ranji Trophy match against Arunachal Pradesh on Friday.

The 28-year-old batter took 147 deliveries to achieve that feat and was still unbeaten at Stumps on 323 off 160 balls in an innings peppered with 33 fours and 21 sixes. (Read more)

About a month back, Novak Djokovic, on CBS’s 60 minutes, had shared a secret that has made him history’s deadliest predator on a tennis court. Between games, while sitting on the bench; Djokovic said, his eyes are always focused on the big screen as he is busy reading the close-up frame of his unsuspecting rival. “I am looking at him … how is he drinking water, is he sweating more than usual, is he breathing deeply or not. I look at how he is communicating with his team .. all these elements really affect the performance and the game itself.”

On Friday at the Australian Open, Djokovic, for close to three-and-half hours over 4 sets, tried looking for clues to crack the 22-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner. He didn’t spot any and suffered an epic loss in the semi-final. Maybe, Djokovic was wasting his time, the young challenger was inscrutable. (Read more Sandeep Dwivedi)

England opener Ben Duckett says Shubman Gill surviving a close call looked like a “dead lbw” and still believes that if they can take wickets in cluster to put India on the back foot.

“It feels like a tricky pitch to start on,” he told reporters. (Read more)

The Bazballers from England may have found a workable approach to survive against India’s spinners, but they are in dire need of a Plan B in bowling if they are to nurse any chance of competing in the series. Having decided to bench James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, their attack that includes two spinners with just one Test experience between them and a fast-bowler who can’t perform defensive roles meant they let India dictate the terms on Day 2 of the first Test. (Read more from Venkata Krishna B)

Last winter, when Australia toured India, KL Rahul was battling for a spot in the Test side. With a red-hot Shubman Gill waiting in the wings, mid-way through the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India benched him for the final two Tests. He had gone more than a year without a century in Tests, struggling for runs across conditions. In the time he spent away from the Test side, and especially since his return from injury in August, his stocks have only been increasing. In a period where he has turned into a source of runs, especially in crisis situations, India could no longer overlook him even in Tests. (Read more from Venkata Krishna B)

The 100 in SA has given me some confidence, also having played 6-7 months of cricket since my injury. The aim was to stay positive when I went out to bat. Very different to that of South Africa (on the pitch) - a bit of turn, it became slower and slower as the ball went old. Was a challenge, I had to wait for my opportunity to play shots. Enjoying batting in the middle-order. I did enjoy batting in the top-order for a long time, but here you get some time to put your feet up, watch as to how the ball is doing, what the bowlers are doing and it gives time to plan your innings. It's only the second day, we just wanted to bat the full day and get as many runs as possible (on the team plan). The chat was to bat as long as possible and everyone to bat and score as many runs as we could.

Hello and welcome to our third day of the first Test between India and England and this might be the final day of the game as well. The two things to watch out for in that first session would be Jadeja getting to his 100 and India crossing that 200-run lead. Rohit Sharma might look to declare if India can bat through the first session on the other hand England will be looking to pick the remaining three wickets and put on a show with the bat.