On a riveting day of cricket, Ollie Pope stood tall for England to take the match to the fourth day at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday. Pope reverse swept the spinners nonchalantly to keep the Indian bowlers at bay and gave the visitors a 126-run lead with four wickets in hand.

Pope’s aggressive approach

India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey was not surprised by Pope’s aggressive approach in England’s second innings. “Obviously, we knew prior to the series the way England have played over the last couple of years and the kind of approach they have to Test cricket. We were expecting them to come here with that aggression and play those kind of shots. But credit goes to them for playing those shots and sometimes you get away with them. Some of the shots Pope played were very brave and credit goes to him. Playing those shots can put the opposition under pressure. But yeah, good knock,’’ said Mhambrey.