Pope hits India with rope-a-dope

Hyderabad: Indian bowlers faced the heat at home for the first time in a very, very long time and surprisingly, barring some moments of pure magic, they wilted considerably as England fought themselves back into the contest through the sheer belligerence of Ollie Pope.

Having dominated the opening Test overwhelmingly for the first two days and seemingly headed for a big win after reducing England to 163/5 a little before tea — the visitors were still trailing the hosts by 27 runs — India did a lot of things wrong on either side of that passage of play on the Moving Day that has now put them in a tricky spot at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.

First, resuming on overnight score of 421/7, they failed to build on that which would have killed England. While overnight batters Ravindra Jadeja (87) and Axar Patel (44) rightfully embraced caution at the start, they just couldn’t get a move-on and India ended up being bowled out for 436 in 121 overs within the opening hour.

Then came the bigger problem — no Plan B by India’s acclaimed spinners R Ashwin and Jadeja as well as Axar. England, just like how they operated the first two days, came out with a pre-set plan — sweep or reverse-sweep come what may — and that strategy, unlike Bazball or the three-spinner one-pacer idea, worked perfectly as they took stumps at 316/6.

From starting their innings 190 runs in the arrears, they now are 126 ahead, all thanks to the brilliance of Pope, who struck a magnificent 148 not out, and handy contributions from Ben Duckett (47) and Ben Foakes (34).

Since the start of the 2013 season, India have lost just three Test matches at home. A major reason behind this dominance is the ruthlessness of Ashwin and Jadeja. Together they have outfoxed oppositions, including England, with many of them often clueless as to how to counter them. 

England, however, are hellbent on changing that and they did it exceptionally on Saturday, which eventually left India coach Rahul Dravid shellshocked. Such was the hammering England dished out, Dravid even walked out to the middle of the pitch at the end of the day’s play to check if it was the same surface his spinners had England dancing to their tune on the opening day.

Zak Crawley and Duckett first started playing the sweep and reverse-sweep, putting Ashwin and Axar immediately out of their rhythm. With plenty in the bank and hoping the English openers will err by top-edging or missing the line, Ashwin and Axar continued to bowl attacking lines but to their dismay Crawley and Duckett continued to play the sweep. With runs flowing like water, Ashwin and Axar tried to alter the line by bowling more on the off-side but it just made life easier for the duo as they caned them.

India fought back through Bumrah in the second session, the pacer bowling a brilliant spell of 5-0-17-2 where he accounted for Duckett and Root. Jadeja and Ashwin then bowled peaches to dismiss Jonny Bairstow and Stokes respectively as England stared at a pasting after being reduced to 163/5. India, despite being under the pump, found a way but Pope had other plans.

The Surrey batter, determined to make the number three spot his own, continued the work his openers had done. He swept and reverse swept confidently, literally fooling around with the field placements and messing around with the minds of Ashwin, Axar and Jadeja.

It was the first time in 21 Tests a visiting side had scored 200 plus runs in both innings of a Test against India in India. It was just an perfect execution of a plan. England smiled for the first time after three days while India wore a frown.