Leeds, June 21 (IANS) Top-order batter Ollie Pope smashed his ninth Test century and remained unbeaten as England trail India by 262 runs after reaching 209/3 in 49 overs at stumps on the second day of the first Test in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series at Headingley on Saturday.

It was a day when India were primed to get a big total, thanks to Shubman Gill making a career-best 147 and Rishabh Pant somersaulting his way to an astonishing 134 – his seventh ton in the format. But after Gill departed, India lost their last seven wickets for just 41 runs to be bowled out for 471 in 113 overs.

A rain delay meant England’s innings had a delayed start, and then they dealt with a menacing Jasprit Bumrah. But Pope and Ben Duckett added 122 runs for the second wicket to bring some normalcy into England’s innings. While Duckett fell for 62, Pope went on to score his ninth Test ton, laced with 13 fours.

Pope got the final session underway with a late cut through the gap between third slip and gully, taking him to a half-century in 64 balls. But Bumrah found success when Duckett chopped onto his stumps and fell for 62 off 94 balls. Pope got a life on 60 when he tried to steer off Bumrah, but Yashasvi Jaiswal made a mess of the catch at third slip.

Siraj bowled with much better lengths, and that resulted in him trapping Joe Root lbw for seven, only for the batter to overturn it on review. Pope continued to grow in confidence by taking boundaries off Jadeja, Prasidh, and Shardul Thakur before getting his hundred off 125 balls through an inside edge off Bumrah.

But on the very next ball, Root poked at an outside off-stump delivery from Bumrah, and a thick outside edge was snapped up by Nair at first slip, making it the tenth time the pacer dismissed the premier England batter in Tests. Just before lunch, Bumrah had Harry Brook give a top edge on a pull to mid-wicket, but didn’t get the scalp as replays showed he overstepped for the third time in the over.

That gave England a huge sigh of relief as local lad Brook and Pope walked off after having an enthralling day where England gained some momentum they squandered on day one’s play. For India, they would need to fire back on day three after having a bowling performance that was more of Bumrah or nothing.

Brief scores:

India 471 in 113 overs (Shubman Gill 147, Rishabh Pant 134; Ben Stokes 4-66, Josh Tongue 4-86) lead England 209/3 in 49 overs (Ollie Pope 100 not out, Ben Duckett 62; Jasprit Bumrah 3-48) by 262 runs

–IANS

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