Ollie Pope’s 81 gives England the lead but India stay in the hunt

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01:24

India 191 and 43 for 0 (Rahul 22*, Rohit 20*) trail England 290 (Pope 81, Woakes 50, Yadav 3-76) by 56 runs

Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes made their first Test fifties in a year to give England a 99-run first-innings lead at The Oval before India’s openers, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, almost halved the deficit by seeing out the second day.

England were teetering at 53 for 3 overnight, and lost two wickets for nine runs at the start of the day, but Pope’s fluency in partnerships with Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali dragged them into the lead, and Woakes – batting at No. 9 after England had used a nightwatchman – attacked against the old ball.

Rohit and Rahul were tasked with 16 overs against the new ball in the late-afternoon haze and despite the occasional play-and-miss and an outside edge from Rohit that flew past Rory Burns at second slip, they saw India through to stumps with the deficit 56 heading into the third day.

More to follow

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