Ollie Pope answered his critics with a century from number three as England cruised back into contention on day two of the First Test at Headingley.
Rishabh Pant (134) lived up to his nickname – ‘The Great Entertainer’ – after he unveiled a full body front flip celebration in the morning session when he reached a century.
Pope brought up his ninth Test century after starring against India on SaturdayGettyPope’s (100*) more traditional celebrations when hitting his 100th run later in the day were just as appreciated by another full house.
And from 430/3 and in an almost impregnable position, England’s bowlers set about a dramatic collapse before the batters almost brought them to parity by stumps on 209/3.
A dramatic day swinging England’s way in the final over with Harry Brook caught for 0 from a Jasprit Bumrah no ball.
The first hour of the day had belonged to India, who were 359/3 at the start of day two, as they played with little external pressure before their stunning collapse.
Incredibly, 471 is the lowest Test score in history when three batters have hit 100.
It was a gloomy start at Headingley, but not for the first time, Pant lit up proceedings with one of the more maverick innings of recent times.
On three occasions he fell over attempting – successful or otherwise – ambitious ramped pulls down to the fine leg boundary.
He slapped half a dozen sixes into the stands, one of which brought up his seventh century in Test cricket, the most by an India wicketkeeper in their history.
The fun and games didn’t end there as he should have been stumped after advancing down the track to Shoaib Bashir (1/100), but was possibly put off by the batter’s attempt to get back behind the line, as Jamie Smith missed the opportunity.
In his desperation to get back to safety, Pant lost his grip on his bat which flew to leg slip, all the while Pant pirouetted and fell to the floor in a heap, safe, for now.
GettyPant celebrated in emphatic fashion after bringing up his century at Headingley[/caption] It was Pope’s turn to take the applause from the fans later in the dayGettyAnd his celebration upon reaching three figures will forever be remembered as after a pause in which he took off his helmet and gloves and carefully put them on the ground, and with his captain, Shubman Gill at a safe distance, Pant completed a text book forward flip.
In and amongst all this, England were battling back from the precipice.
India were 430/3 when Gill picked out a fielder at deep square leg to depart for a mighty 147.
And that set in motion an Indian collapse for the ages as they lost seven wickets for just 41 runs.
Some of the batters will feel they had themselves to blame, as Shardul Thakur’s wild hack in the last ball of the session had the TV cameras focusing on his coach Guatim Gambhir shaking his head solemnly.
Ravindra Jadeja then chopped on and Jasprit Bumrah steered one to slip.
Ben Stokes’ England side fought back on day two of the First TestGettyBut Karun Nair, playing his first Test in eight years, won’t be dismissed again by a better catch than the one that Pope took at short cover – diving full stretch to his left to take an absolute snorter to make Nair one of three Indian batters dismissed without scoring.
Still, 471 would have been accepted gratefully by the Indians after losing the toss and being asked to bat first and England lost Zak Crawley (four) in the first over of their reply, who was caught well by Nair at first slip from the ever dangerous Bumrah.
As ever when at the crease, the slip cordon were kept interested by Ben Duckett (62), who got one to drop just short of Shubman Gill at gully before seeing Ravindra Jadeja spoon a straight forward chance at backward point with the score 39/1.
Pope playing ahead of Jacob Bethell enjoyed a little fortune himself early on and survived a close LBW shout, but also drove and cut expansively to keep his and England’s score ticking along.
He will play a more fluent innings, but maybe not a more important one for a while as he went past fifty with a genuine edge between third slip and gully for four and was dropped off Bumrah by Jaiswal at third slip on 60.
Joe Root (28) came in to bat after Ben Duckett was bowled via an inside edge from Bumrah and successfully overturned an LBW decision by Umpire Paul Reiffel on seven, with the ball shown to be missing leg stump by a good couple of inches.
But he went one ball after Pope had scampered the single that brought him to 100, edging the returning Bumrah into the slip cordon.
England’s decision to forego a nightwatch would have been criticised if Bumrah hadn’t overstepped three times in the final over to hand Brook a reprieve.
Both sides come back on Sunday with the match finely poised with three days to go – India with runs on the board and England 209/3 with wickets in hand and plenty of time to go.
Overseas cricket fans can listen to live commentary of every England Test this summer by tuning into the talkSPORT Cricket YouTube Channel. The Following On Podcast hosted by Jon Norman and Steve Harmison will also be available shortly after the close of play.
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