Ollie Pope and his latest century spearheaded England to 209-3 after India was bowled out for 471 on Day Two, Saturday, of the test series opener at Headingley.
Pope was 100 not out and the leading scorer as England slashed its deficit to 262 runs by stumps and won the day.
Pope was far from perfect. He survived a testing opening spell from speedster Jasprit Bumrah in gloomy bowler-friendly conditions, narrowly avoided lbw on 34 and was dropped on 60.
He rode his luck to his ninth test hundred and second against India.
Bumrah was England’s greatest threat as expected and took all three home wickets: Zac Crawley in the first over; Ben Duckett on 62 to break his and Pope’s 122-run second-wicket partnership; and Joe Root on 28 to break his and Pope’s 80-run third-wicket partnership.
Bumrah would have had a fourth wicket in the day’s last over — Harry Brook without scoring — but he overstepped for the third time in the over. The world’s best fast bowler was also the victim of two dropped catches in the field.
England wasn’t expected to be batting soon after lunch.
India was 430-3 about half an hour before lunch. A total of at least 550 was on the cards but the demise of captain Shubman Gill for 147 sparked a collapse of 41-7 in 68 balls bridging lunch.
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