Ollie Pope and Rehan Ahmed, quite expectedly, started Day 4 of the first Test against India by playing a few shots but the latter's innings was cut short by Jasprit Bumrah. England were 7 down with a lead nudging 150. India would have hoped to wrap the last three wickets quickly and then come out to bat in the next half hour. But it wasn't to be. And not for the first time in this innings.
Pope, who became the first visiting batter to score more than 150 in the third innings of a Test match in India since Kevin Pietersen's monumental effort at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in 2012, found a new partner in Tom Hartley. The debutant and Pope put on 80 runs for the 8th wicket and that is where former India and England cricketers believe the match drifted further away from the hosts.
Pietersen said the Pope and Hartley stand "destroyed" India's soul. "This partnership has destroyed India's soul. England have put itself in a commanding position. Psychologically a lead over 200 is a huge blow for India. Batting in the fourth innings is incredibly difficult. There's a reason why teams don't chase big totals in the fourth innings of a Test match. It is very tough," he said in commentary.
Pope fell only four short of his maiden double century but he almost single-handedly took England to a position where they can not only stay alive in the contest but believe they can pull off an improbable win. After the Pope and Hartley partnership was broken by Ashwin, India took the next two wickets quickly to bowl England out for 420 but by then, the visitors, who were 163/5 at one stage, had already taken a lead of 230 runs.
{{/usCountry}}Pope fell only four short of his maiden double century but he almost single-handedly took England to a position where they can not only stay alive in the contest but believe they can pull off an improbable win. After the Pope and Hartley partnership was broken by Ashwin, India took the next two wickets quickly to bowl England out for 420 but by then, the visitors, who were 163/5 at one stage, had already taken a lead of 230 runs.
{{/usCountry}}Poppe played a marvellous innings but he did get help some from the Indian fielders. He was dropped by Axar Patel off Ravindra Jadeja's bowling towards the end of Day 3 and even on Day 4, KL Rahul dropped him in the slips when he was in his 180s off Mohammed Siraj's bowling.
Former India cricketers slam ‘listless’ India's defensive tactics
Former India cricketers Ravi Shastri, Murali Kartik were critical of India's body language.
"With every single boundary, a head dropped in the field," said Pietersen.
"India's body language has been listless ever since that partnership between Ben Foakes and Ollie Pope. They have waited for things to happen," said former India left-arm spinner Murali Kartik.
Veteran India keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik questioned the defensive field placements of India captain Rohit Sharma. "India have been too defensive. I can understand being defensive to Pope but to Tom Hartley, Jadeja and Ashwin should get attacking fielders and not so many sweepers," he said.
"The body language is dropping. This is an unknown territory for India. You can sense the home team is under pressure. They are not used to visiting teams pilling on 400-plus runs in the third innings," said Shastri.
India have not lost a single Test series at home in 12 years. They have lost only three Tests out of 46 during this period.