Leaving Joe Root speechless after smashing a match-altering century against England, premier batter Ollie Pope extended his free-scoring run on Day 4 of the 1st Test against India at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Reaching new heights in his much-promising red-ball career, England's Pope played a stellar knock against Team India to rewrite Test history on Sunday in Hyderabad.
Dropped on 186 by KL Rahul, England batter Pope failed to make the most of his lifeline as he missed out on bringing up his double century. However, the Englishman played a brilliant knock of 196 to shatter multiple records in the longest format. Batting on 196, Pope was only four runs short of joining Root, Mike Gatting, and Graeme Fowler in the elite list of England players who managed to score a double century in India.
Ollie Pope goes past Pakistan's Saeed Anwar
Returning into the attack after Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja picked two crucial wickets, pacer Jasprit Bumrah cleaned up an on-song Pope in the 102nd over to end the England innings. Dismissed for 196 off 278 balls, Pope has managed to take the fourth spot in the list of batters with the highest individual scores in the second innings (as a visiting batter) against India. Pope surpassed Pakistan's Saeed Anwar, who scored 188* against India at Kolkata in 1999. Only Andy Flower (232*), Brendon McCullum (225), and Garfield Sobers (198) have scored more than Pope in the 2nd innings as a visiting batter against the Asian giants.
England set 231-run target for India in 1st Test
{{/usCountry}}Returning into the attack after Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja picked two crucial wickets, pacer Jasprit Bumrah cleaned up an on-song Pope in the 102nd over to end the England innings. Dismissed for 196 off 278 balls, Pope has managed to take the fourth spot in the list of batters with the highest individual scores in the second innings (as a visiting batter) against India. Pope surpassed Pakistan's Saeed Anwar, who scored 188* against India at Kolkata in 1999. Only Andy Flower (232*), Brendon McCullum (225), and Garfield Sobers (198) have scored more than Pope in the 2nd innings as a visiting batter against the Asian giants.
England set 231-run target for India in 1st Test
{{/usCountry}}England's Graham Gooch holds the record for scoring the highest individual score against India in the longest format. Gooch played a record-setting knock of 333 against India in the 1990 Test at Lord's. Pope's batting masterclass against Rohit Sharma's Team India on Day 4 paved the way for the visitors to stage an impressive comeback in the series opener. Thanks to Pope's batting show in Hyderabad, Ben Stokes and Co. have set a 231-run target for India in the Test series opener.