ENG vs IND 4th Test: IND bowlers helpless as Root-Pope dominate 1st session

All four English batters have crossed the 50-run mark in the first innings of the Manchester Test

It was all England in the morning session of Day 3 action of the 4th Test of 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy  between India and England in Manchester, as the hosts played a brilliant wicketless session to take their total from the overnight score of 225 for 2 to 332 for 2. The hosts are now only 26 runs away from India’s first innings total of 358. Indian bowlers started the day in aggressive fashion but soon lost their morale and rhythm, which the English duo of Pope and Root took full advantage of.

 

The first session of the day began with England resuming their innings at the overnight score of 225 for 2, with Joe Root (11 not out) and Ollie Pope (20 not out) at the crease. The duo took a cautious start to the day and kept playing sensible cricket to take their partnership for the third wicket past 50, keeping England rolling. India had two good wicket chances — one when Pope edged a ball to short cover, but it fell in no man's land, and the second when, in a rare scenario, Jadeja fumbled a throw and missed a chance to run out Root on the final ball of the 54th over.  Check England vs India 4th Test Day 3 LIVE SCORE UPDATES here

 

Just before the first drinks break of the day, Root took his total to 31 to become the third-highest run-scorer in Test cricket history, surpassing Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis. The Englishmen continued to attack post drinks as well. Ollie Pope, in the 64th over, completed his 16th Test half-century to make it three out of three 50-plus scores by England’s top three in the innings, before Root made it four out of four in the 69th over.

 

By the time the session ended, Joe Root (58 not out) and Ollie Pope (66 not out) had added 107 runs to the hosts’ overnight total to complete a dominant session.

 

England scorecard at lunch:

 

England 1st Inning
332-2 (74 ov) CRR:4.49
Batter	Dismissal	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Zak Crawley	c KL Rahul b R Jadeja	84	113	13	1	74.34
Ben Duckett	c (sub D Jurel) b A Kamboj	94	100	13	0	94
Ollie Pope	Not out	70	123	7	0	56.91
Joe Root	Not out	63	115	8	0	54.78
Extras	21 (b 4, Ib 10, w 0, nb 7, p 0)
Total	332 (2 wkts, 74 Ov)
Bowler	O	M	R	W	NB	ECO
Jasprit Bumrah	18	5	54	0	2	3
Anshul Kamboj	15	1	72	1	3	4.8
Mohammed Siraj	17	2	80	0	0	4.71
Shardul Thakur	6	0	37	0	0	6.17
Ravindra Jadeja	15	0	59	1	2	3.93
Washington Sundar	3	0	16	0	0	5.33