IND Vs ENG, 1st Test Day 3: Ollie Pope Fights Back, Takes England's Lead To 126 Runs; ENG - 316-6 (77) - As It Happened

Hello and welcome to our Match Blog of Day 3 of the first Test between India and England in Hyderabad. The overnight batters Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel were soon removed and the veteran southpaw was left 13 runs shy of his well-deserved ton. Indian innings were restricted to 436 runs all out. England openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley started well. Ashwin provided with the first breakthrough. But Oliie Pope played a brilliant unbeaten innings of 148* off 208 balls. He added 112 runs for the sixth wicket with Ben Foakes (34 off 81 balls). No other English batter spent much time at the crease. Rehan Ahmed was unbeaten when the Umpires called Stumps for Day 3. England have taken a 126-run lead in their second innings. Catch the highlights of Day 3 of the first IND Vs ENG Test match here (Scorecard | Streaming)

Brief Score: ENG - 316/6 (77) (2nd ING)
Ollie Pope - 148* (208),  Ben Duckett - 47 (52)  | 🍬 Jaspr🦩it Bumrah: (12-3-29-2)

IND - 436/10 (121) (1st ING)
Ravindra Jadeja - 87 (180),  KL Rahul - 86 (123)  |  Joe Root: (29-5-79-4)

ENG - 246/10 (64.3) (1st ING)
Ben Stokes - 70 (88),  Jonny Bairstow - 37 (58)  |  Ravichandran Ashwin✅: (21-1-68-3)

Ollie Pope and Rehan Ahmed saved their wickets and went unbeaten on Day 3 as England led by 126 runs with four wickets still in their hands. Indian spinners, especially Ravindra Jadeja leaked runs with an economy rate of around 4 runs 𒆙per over. Ollie Pope is not out on 148 runs in 208 balls.

Ollie Pope is the pillar of the England batting right now. He is playing on 143 not out and Rehan Ahmed is there to support him a🌜t the crease. England's lead has also passed 110 runs and India desperately need a wicket before the end of the day's play.

And here comes the wicket, finally. Axar Patel with a flatter trajectory ball that stays low and sneaks past Ben Foakes' defence. The century stand is broken and India rejoice again. Rehand Ahmed has joined centurion Ollie Pope at the creas🍒e now. Can he help build another partnership?

The final session of the day has begun with a resolute Ollie Pope at the crease, who is joined by wicketkeeper-batter Ben Foakes. Axar Patel to start things off for India after tea. The hosts know they are one wicket away from the tail, while for England it is all about gr🐬inding it out for a while.

Oooh, Jonny Bairstow would not want to look at that dismissal again. Tricket by Ravi Jadeja into leaving an of♍f-side cutter, Bairstow remains rooted to the ground with his bat in the air while the ball spins on the𝓡 surface and uproots the bails behind him. The Indian fans would have loved that one! 

England four down, with Ben Stokes in play. 

Much to the dismay of the Indian fans, England have settle𒁃d down into a steady rhythm following that two-wicket spell by Jasprit Bumrah. Ollie Pope is edging toward his half-century, while Jonny Bairstow is keeping things movin💯g at the other end. India's lead only 50 at the time of writing. 

Jasprit Bumrah has come in clutch for In๊dia early on in the second session. Moments after removing Ben Duckett, the Indian pacer removes the experienced J🌳oe Root with an LBW, which, despite the England batter's review, is allowed to stand on Umpire's Call. Root walks for 2, England start to crumble. England 117-3, trailing by 73 runs. 

Jasprit Bumrah strikes at a crucial juncture in the match, with the fast bowler removing the dan𓃲gerous looking Ben Duckett for 47. England are wel🍃l past the 100-run mark and Joe Root has just come out to bat as they chase a 77-run India lead at the time of writing. A crucial few hours coming up. 

Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett have picked up where they left off, making a mockery of the Indian bowlers at the start os Sessiಌon 2 in Hyderabad. The Three Lions have breached the 100-run mark, and are well on their way to surpassing India's 1st Innings total; they trail by jus✱t 89 runs at the time of writing, with plenty of wickets to spare. 

It hasꦛ been a productive day, so far, for the visitors, who managed to limit India to a 190-run lead before cutting 89 runs into it early i🔜n their second innings. England's aggressive batting approach has been on full display this morning in Hyderabad, with Ben Duckett plucking the Indian bowlers for frequent boundaries on all sides. The Three Lions did lose a wicket, however, when Ashwin removed Crawley, just when he was looking dangerous. The play has been broken up for Lunch, with another huge session to follow next. 

India have their breakthrough! Ravi Ashwin uproots what was beginni🔴ng to look like a dangerous partnership between Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett by claiming the former's wicket just before the 50-run mark. Crawley, batting on 31, edged a delivery back to the first slip Rohit Sharma, who carefully caressed it in his hands to send him back to the pavilion! 

Ol❀lie Pope comes out to bat for the Three 𝄹Lions next!

India have begun their task of bowling Englan🧸d out before the 190-mark, thus bringing the Test to a close a couple of days early. The Men in Blue have tried their luck with Jasprit Bumrah and Ravi Ashwin, but, thus far, to no avail. England's Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett are on the crease, persevering through this early pressure. 

Rehan Ahmed bowls out Axar Patel for 44 and that's that for India in this first innings. The Men in Blue return to the paviliဣon after putting 436 runs on the board and increasing their lead to a whopping 190 runs. The task ahead of England is tall; not only do they need to match India's total, they need to set a mammoth target to stave off the hosts from winning the first Test in Hyderabad. 

India: 436 All Out (Lead by 190)

India have lost another key batter in 🐭the 80s, with Ravindra Jadeja the one to walk th🏅is time after being caught with his leg plumb before the wicket. Jadeja immediately goes upstairs and, after much deliberation, is declared out on a double Umpire's Call, with both the 'ball pitching' and 'hitting wickets' tabs turning yellow. Joe Root brings England their first breakthrough on a key day for the two teams. 

What a dramatic turn of events in Hyderabad! Immediately after🌠 catching Ravi Jadeja with his leg before the wicket, Joe Root uproots Jasprit Bumrah's bails to bring India down to their last wicket of the innings. Root, more pertinently, is on a hattrick! 

A brief♏ stoppage in play as Mark Wood's delivery catches the side of Ravindra Jadeja's helmet. What follows is a slightly tense situation between the teams as the physio is called out to give his approval for Jadeja to continue. Having performed his mandatory concussion check, the physio returns to the stands, allowing play to resume. 

Just the two runs in the first two overs of the day then for India, whose lead now🌳 stands at 177. Mark Wood and Joe Root have both tried th🌊eir luck early on with the ball, but a breakthrough, thus far, the Three Loons haven't achieved. 

Mark Wood bowls first for England with Ravindra Jadeja aꦑnd Axar Patel on the crease. England's task is simple: get India out before they can do unassailable damage. 

At the end of Day 2, India led England by a whopping 175 runs with three wickets to spare. The Men in Bl🐷ue have been ruthless with the bat, with Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and Ravindra Jadeja🦹 all soaring past their 80s - the latter will begin the third day on 81 runs from 155 balls. Alongside Jadeja, Axar Patel is on the crease, the pair looking to guide India's advantage well beyond the 200-run mark.

Over the course of the past two days, the visitors have painfully learnt that 'Bazball' is no silver bullet. In spin-friendly conditions where application and batting prud🎐ence are imperative, the unfettered approach to Test cricket is prone to backfire, and it did.

The hosts first employed their potent spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel to bamboozle and bowl out the Englishmen for an inadequate total of 246, and then showed them how to♏ bat on such a surface. After spinning a web with their left-arm tweakers, Jadeja and Axar are now wielding their willows to deleterious effect.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, 🌱Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bhara🌞t (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben St✤okes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Jack Leach