England rally at Headingley after Rishabh Pant's scintillating century
England produced a stirring fightback after Rishabh Pant became India's third centurion of the innings on the second morning of the first Rothesay Test at Headingley.
Tons from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill put India in charge on 359 for three on day one after they were asked to bat first and Pant cemented their dominance by turning his overnight 65 into a stunning 134.
Advertisement
With India 430 for three, England were staring down the barrel but the tourists lost four for 24, which included overnight batters Gill and Pant, to go to lunch on 454 for seven in sultry conditions.
Captain Gill holed out off Shoaib Bashir for a masterful 147 and Ollie Pope took a stunning catch to end Karun Nair's Test comeback after four balls, while Pant was lbw to Josh Tongue as India teetered.
Ben Stokes then took his fourth wicket of the innings when he found the outside edge of Shardul Thakur from the final ball before lunch, leaving India with work to do to get to an imposing 500.
Advertisement
It was a far cry from a wicketless first hour, with Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse again struggling to make an impact. The most memorable moment came with the last ball before drinks when Ben Duckett's throw hit team-mate Harry Brook in the ribs attempting to run Gill out as he scampered for a single.
Bashir was targeted by Pant, who brought up a seventh Test ton in style with a one-handed six before removing his helmet and gloves and celebrating the achievement with a front somersault.
Gill sought to get to 150 in similarly buccaneering fashion but found only Tongue in the deep before Jamie Smith missed a stumping chance off Pant the ball after he had deposited Bashir into the stands.
Nair's first Test innings for India since 2017 was a brief affair as a drive off Stokes was excellently pouched by Pope, diving full length to his left.
Tongue, who had been curiously overlooked up until 20 minutes before lunch, then jagged one back into Pant's pads and got the lbw verdict, before Thakur nicked off to Stokes on the stroke of lunch.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Pope makes gutsy century before Bumrah late show
First Rothesay Test, Headingley (day two of five) India 471: Gill 147, Pant 134, Jaiswal 101; Stokes 2-66, Tongue 4-86 England 209-3: Pope 100*, Duckett 62; Bumrah 3-48 England are 262 runs behind Scorecard Advertisement Ollie Pope's gutsy century led England's resurgence only for Jasprit Bumrah to give India the crucial wicket of Joe Root late on day two of the first Test. Pope, preferred to rising star Jacob Bethell at number three, repaid England's faith with 100 not out at Headingley. The ball after Pope completed his century, Bumrah had Root caught at first slip to leave England 209-3 - all three wickets falling to the pace maestro. England are 262 adrift of India's 471, a total that should have been much greater. Despite Rishabh Pant completing a thrilling century, the tourists lost their last seven wicket for 41 runs. Captain Ben Stokes and Josh Tongue claimed four wickets apiece. Advertisement Under a brooding sky - play was held up for 40 minutes by rain - England were faced with the threat of Bumrah, who promptly had Zak Crawley caught at slip. Bumrah was electrifying, but England dug in through a stand of 122 between Ben Duckett and Pope. Duckett was dropped off Bumrah, Pope edged the same bowler through the slips. Duckett fell for 62 to Bumrah's second spell, in which Pope was dropped at third slip by Yashasvi Jaiswal on 60. In the evening sunshine, Root overturned being given lbw. Bumrah was summoned for one more spell. Though he could not prevent Pope's milestone, he snatched the bigger prize of Root. Advertisement Incredibly, there was still time for Harry Brook to be caught off a Bumrah no-ball. It was a heart-stopping end to an engrossing day. England fightback has makings of Headingley classic England were flattened on the opening day, forced to chase leather after gifting away the advantage of winning the toss. Resuming on 359-3, India should have batted England out of the contest and then unleashed Bumrah late on. Instead, the tourists offered a route back in with loose dismissals and dropped catches, and England, chiefly Pope, played well enough to grab the opportunity. Their batting was sensible, rather than cavalier, yet the hosts stills scored in excess of four an over. Advertisement The conditions in which England had to start their innings, ideal for bowling, further highlighted just how good Friday had been for batting. When Bumrah had the ball, every delivery was an event and on another day he could have had an even bigger haul. For all the talk of the toss and Bumrah's brilliance, England have a foothold in the match. On a sluggish pitch that looks full of runs, the home side may be vindicated in a fourth-innings chase. For now India retain the upper hand through their lead and the presence of Bumrah. It could turn into a classic. Pope ends number three debate for now Despite a modest record against India, the most important innings of Pope's Test career - 196 in Hyderabad - downed the same opponents 18 months ago. Advertisement Given the debate around his place, the match situation and the threat of Bumrah, this was the best hundred he has made at home. It was the Surrey man's third in successive home Tests and his ninth overall. Pope's strength, scoring behind square on the off side, was also a vulnerability. He edged Bumrah between third slip and gully on 10, then should have been caught by Jaiswal. Duckett had 15 when he cut Bumrah to point, the chance spilled by the usually reliable Ravindra Jadeja. Reprieved, Duckett drove through the covers and pulled anything fractionally short. Batting looked much more straightforward when Bumrah was out of the attack and Duckett fell via an inside edge when he returned. His replacement, Root, was given leg before to Mohammed Siraj on seven, only for the review to show it was missing leg stump. Advertisement Bumrah began his third spell. Pope, on 99, inside edged a single and leapt in celebration. Headingley had barely settled when Root was drawn into a poke to first slip and departed for 28. In the final over, Brook inexplicably tried to pull Bumrah and miscued to mid-wicket. He was saved by umpire Chris Gaffaney raising his arm to signal the third no-ball of the over. India leave runs out there Given their first-day platform, India had the opportunity to push for 550 or even more. England's anonymous first hour, when Stokes chose to delay his own entry into the attack, gave no clue of the collapse to come. Advertisement Pant, resuming on 65, planted off-spinner Shoaib Bashir for six. When he repeated the dose, this time with one hand off the bat, the left-hander reached his second Test ton since a life-threatening car crash in December 2022. Ever the showman, he celebrated with a somersault. India were in complete control until captain Shubman Gill, who added 20 to move to 147, needlessly clipped Bashir to Tongue at deep mid-wicket. From then on, the visitors fell apart. When Stokes finally brought himself on in the 12th over of the day, he again looked a threat with pace, a full length and swing. Karun Nair, in his first Test innings for eight years, drove to the flying Pope at short cover for a four-ball duck. Tongue was poor on day one and ignored until 18 minutes before lunch on day two. He found the same movement as Stokes and got the crucial wicket. Pant, who should have been stumped by Jamie Smith off Bashir, was befuddled into leaving a Tongue in-swinger that trapped him lbw. Advertisement The clouds gathered, the floodlights came on and the lower-order did not resist. Shardul Thakur edged Stokes behind, Bumrah edged to second slip off Tongue, who then bowled both Jadeja and Prasidh Krishna. England took the last seven wickets in 68 balls.
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ollie Pope century leads England fightback against India at Headingley
LEEDS, England (AP) — 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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. ___ AP cricket: The Associated Press
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Galal Yafai vs. Francisco Rodriguez Jr. live results, round-by-round updates, ring walks for WBC interim title fight
Galal Yafai vs. Francisco Rodriguez Jr. goes down Saturday for the interim WBC super flyweight title in Birmingham, England. Uncrowned has Galal Yafai vs. Francisco Rodriguez Jr. live results, round-by-round updates, highlights, ring walks and start time for the Yafai vs. Rodriguez Jr. fight card on Saturday afternoon at the BP Pulse Live Arena in Birmingham, England. In the night's main event, Britain's Yafai defends his WBC interim flyweight title against Mexico's Rodriguez Jr. Yafai (9-0, 7 KOs), a 2020 Olympic gold medalist, captured the WBC interim title with a one-sided beatdown that ended with a sixth-round TKO win over Sunny Edwards this past November. Advertisement Rodriguez Jr. (39-6-1, 27 KOs) held the unified strawweight championship in 2014. He has also previously challenged for light flyweight and super flyweight world titles. The winner of Yafai vs. Rodriguez Jr. will be the mandatory challenger to unified flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji. Also on the card, Conah Walker (15-3-1, 6 KOs) defends his British welterweight title against Liam Taylor (28-2-1, 14 KOs), and Peter McGrail (11-1, 6 KOs) faces the battle-hardened Ionut Baluta (17-5-1, 3 KOs). The Yafai vs. Rodríguez Jr. prelims begin at 11:30 a.m. ET and can be watched live on Uncrowned below. The main card starts at 2 p.m. ET on DAZN, with main event ring walks expected at around 5 p.m. ET. Advertisement Follow all of the action with Uncrowned's live results and play-by-play of the main card below. Main Card (2 p.m. ET, DAZN) WBC interim flyweight title: Galal Yafai vs. Francisco Rodriguez Welterweight: Conah Walker vs. Liam Taylor Super bantamweight: Peter McGrail vs. Ionut Baluta Cruiserweight: Pat Brown vs. Ivan Duka Super bantamweight: Tiah Ayton def. Sara Orszagi via third-round TKO | Watch video Prelims (11:30 a.m. ET, Watch via Uncrowned) Middleweight: Aaron Bowen def. Mykola Vovk via fourth-round TKO | Watch video Super featherweight: Giorgio Visioli def. Elias Federico Duguet via points (80-71) Super featherweight: Ibraheem Sulaimaan def. Brian Phillips via points (80-72) Flyweight: Hamza Uddin def. Leandro Jose Blanc via seventh-round TKO | Watch video
