Joe Root hit his 38th hundred as England piled misery on India by reaching 433 for four at tea on day three of the fourth Test on Friday.
Washington Sundar got the ball to drift and dismissed Ollie Pope (71 off 128 balls) and Harry Brook (3 off 12) after lunch, providing much-needed relief to India after a wicketless morning session.
Root (121 batting off 201), however, continued to score at will and reached his century with a four down the leg side off Anshul Kamboj, laying the foundation for the hosts’ 75-run lead. Minutes later, he surpassed Ricky Ponting to become the second highest run-scorer in Tests. He is now only behind Sachin Tendulkar, who amassed 15,921 runs.
India employed spinners Washington and Ravindra Jadeja from both ends despite taking the new ball. The move worked as Sundar had Pope caught at first slip before having Brook stumped as he could not connect on the charge. Root chose to play on the backfoot when the spinners were in operation and used the reverse sweep to good effect. Towards the end of the session, Root took a single off Kamboj to get past Ponting in the all-time leading run getters’ list.
England captain Ben Stokes (36 batting off 68) chugged along at the other end as he and Root shared an unbeaten 84-run stand for the fifth wicket. Bumrah bowled just one over with the new ball before leaving the field and adding to India’s woes. When he finally returned to bowl, the umpires reminded him that he was only allowed to bowl after tea.
In the morning session, the Indian bowlers could not pose much threat to Root and Pope, who steered England to 332 for two at lunch. After a forgettable evening session on day two, the Indian bowling attack once again failed to make inroads into the England batting. Besides an odd ball keeping low from the James Anderson end and another jumping from the opposite side, Bumrah and Co could 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 pulled Bumrah for a boundary each when he pitched the ball short.
Resuming the day at 225 for two, England eased to 266 for two in the first hour of play. Kamboj, who had a mediocre start to his Test career on day two, created a chance in his opening spell, but Dhruv Jurel could not hold on to a tough chance. Pope was batting at 48 then.
Scoreboard at tea: India 1st innings: 358 England 1st innings: Zak Crawley c Rahul b Jadeja 84 Ben Duckett c sub (Dhruv Jurel) b Kamboj 94 Ollie Pope c Rahul b Washington Sundar 71 Joe Root batting 121 Harry Brookst (sub) Dhruv Jurel b Washington Sundar 3 Ben Stokes batting 36 Extras: (B-4, LB-10, NB-10) 24 Total: (For 4 wickets in 102 overs) 433 Fall of wickets: 1-166, 2-197, 3-341, 4-349. Bowling: Jasprit Bumrah 19-5-65-0, Anshul Kamboj 18-1-89-1, Mohammed Siraj 22-3-98-0, Shardul Thakur 9-0-46-0, Ravindra Jadeja 23-0-91-1, Washington Sundar 11-3-30-2.
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