IND Vs ENG, 4th Test Day 3 Session 1 Report: Ollie Pope, Joe Root Take England To 332/2 At Lunch

England vice-captain Ollie Pope and Joe Root struck unbeaten half-centuries to take the hosts to 332/2 at lunch on day three of the fourth Test of Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy on Friday.

Resuming on 225/2, the duo added 107 runs in the morning session to reduce India's first-innings lead to 26 runs.

Pope (70 batting) scored his fifty in 93 balls, while Root took 99 deliveries to get to his his half-century.

Root (63 not out) also surpassed Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis to become the third-highest run-scorer in Test history.

Openers Ben Duckett (94) and Zak Crawley (84) had notched up half centuries on Thursday after England bowled India out for 358.

Besides an odd ball keeping low from the James Anderson end and another jumping from the opposite side, Jasprit Bumrah and Co did not trouble Root and Pope.

Guilty of offering too many freebies on the leg side on Thursday, the Indian pacers continued to offer loose balls to release pressure on the opposition.

Bumrah bowled a full ball into Root’s pads to start his day and the England veteran duly flicked it for a four. Later in his spell, Pope and Root were quick to pull Bumrah for a boundary each when the Indian pace spearhead pitched it short.

Anshul Kamboj, who had an underwhelming start to his Test career on day two, created a chance in his opening spell but stumper Dhruv Jurel could not hold on to a tough chance. Pope was on 48 at the time, Root took a single off Mohammed Siraj in the 58th over to become the third highest leading run scorer in Tests.

He is expected to surpass Ricky Ponting in the series and when that happens, he would only be behind the great Sachin Tendulkar, who amassed 15921 runs. Washington Sundar was introduced as late as the 69th over and Root put him under pressure straightaway by reverse sweeping him for a boundary.