HYDERABAD: Ollie Pope’s magnificent knock got here to an finish on 196 as England have now set India a goal of 231 runs after folding their second innings at 420 in 102.1 overs on day 4 of the primary Take a look at on the Rajiv Gandhi Worldwide Stadium on Sunday.

England have been in bother at 163/5 and Pope, the vice-captain, stepped in to play one of many best innings by any batter from his nation in Take a look at matches in India. He used the sweep to an excellent impact, dismantling the Indian spinners in an attacking trend to his 21 boundaries in his 278-ball vigil on the crease.

He additionally stitched three essential partnerships of 112, 64 and 80 with Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed and Tom Hartley respectively. Because of Pope, England ensured the Indian spirits remained low within the morning session on day 4 as they added 104 runs, giving themselves an opportunity of pulling off an unlikely win.

Within the second over of the primary session, Pope took a single previous level off Jasprit Bumrah to carry up his 150, as he and Rehan Ahmed continued to swell the lead. Regardless of the brand new ball being made accessible, India selected to stay with the outdated ball and that paid off as Bumrah used reverse swing to take Rehan’s exterior edge behind to KS Bharat.

Pope and Tom Hartley continued to take singles and bounds off the spinners as India struggled to make a breakthrough. Even after taking the brand new ball within the 89th over, boundaries have been nonetheless flowing as Hartley lofted off Ashwin for a boundary.

India’s bowlers didn’t look threatening and have been unable to cease the run-flow, in addition to give straightforward singles because the Pope-Hartley stand raised their fifty. Pope was given a reprieve at 186 when KL Rahul dropped his catch at slip off Mohammed Siraj, with Hartley persevering with to seek out boundaries.

The partnership was delivered to a halt by Ashwin, who castled Hartley with the one which stayed low. Jadeja got here again to have the within fringe of Mark Wooden caught behind by Bharat and within the subsequent over, Pope formed for a reverse-scoop, however he missed a slower ball from Jasprit Bumrah to hit the highest of off-stump.

India now have 5 periods in hand to chase down 231, particularly with solely 5 profitable chases occurring beforehand within the fourth innings, and the newest occasion of it coming in opposition to New Zealand at Bengaluru in 2012.

England, although, have an inexperienced bowling line-up, particularly with Leach carrying a left knee harm. However they’ll actually take a variety of inspiration from a wonderful second innings with the bat, and Pope main the way in which for it with a knock for ages.

Transient Scores: England 246 and 420 in 102.1 overs (Ollie Pope 196; Ben Duckett 47; Jasprit Bumrah 4-41, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-126) lead India 436 in 121 overs by 230 runs