There have been times when it seemed that England’s faith in Ollie Pope would go unrewarded and that he was destined to be the next great batsman who never was.
Even on the first day of this huge series, it was Pope who among the English batsmen seemed least likely to find a method in the next two months that would work against excellent Indian bowlers in their own conditions.
Yes, it was Pope’s comeback after the second serious shoulder injury of his career ended his Ashes at Lord’s last summer.
But he was skittish and frantic, two words that have been associated with him, before he was put out of his misery by Ravindra Jadeja for one of the eleven balls.
That all changed on Saturday when the Surrey man, who England believe will be their next Test captain, scored the most important hundred of his career and gave his side a glimmer of hope that they might be able to compete here in five Tests after all.
Ollie Pope was the hero of the hour after notching his fifth Test century in Hyderabad
There were still moments during Pope’s quite brilliant unbeaten 148 on the third day of this first Test when he looked like a cat on a hot tin roof rather than the stylish batsman who earned comparisons to Ian Bell during his early rise to the Oval .
But he went through some anxious moments, was always anxious to make the attack on India, and thoroughly justified the unwavering conviction which made England throw him straight back into their team for this most demanding of overseas expeditions.
It was only when he was on 110 that Pope presented India with an opportunity, one of his reverse sweeps that never looked entirely convincing, dropped by Axar Patel off Jadeja.
But otherwise he grew to what became his fifth and best Test hundred, on a pitch that may not have deteriorated as much as expected when the ball turned square on day one, but still presented a significant challenge.
In fact, when Pope did well alongside his Surrey team-mate Ben Foakes, another who had to contribute after his own quiet comeback, it looked like England might put themselves in a position where they could dream of a sensational victory.
As it stands, with England leading 126 and four wickets remaining, India remain favourites, but if England’s tail could wag for about an hour on day four, anything would still be possible.
This was, refreshingly, England’s day from the moment they quickly wrapped up the Indian first innings through to a productive final session, with only a spell after lunch in which they lost four wickets, leaving their best cricket of this emerging series to has been ruined so far.
There really is no need for England to pick a third ‘specialist’ spinner in Friday’s second Test when Joe Root can bowl like that. Better that Ben Stokes leaves out another of his slow bowlers – and Jack Leach must be an injury doubt – and replaces him with a second Seamer in Jimmy Anderson.
Root again showed Stokes’ folly in not using him on the first evening here when Yashasvi Jaiswal let Tom Hartley down by taking two of the three remaining Indian wickets in the first innings in successive balls.
That gave him four wickets in an innings in which he was easily England’s best bowler, albeit with Leach limited by the knee problem that saw him emerge yesterday with extensive bandages on his left leg.
When Rehan Ahmed bowled the last man, Patel India had added just 15 to their lead of 175 on the night, but England still had a mountain to climb to even take the match to the fourth day, let alone claw their way back in to force the fight.
They generally decided there was no point in pushing and prodding around while waiting for a ball with their name on it, as so many English teams have done here in the past.
Instead they were as attacking as possible, with Ben Duckett’s plethora of sweeps serving him well in an opening stand of 45 with Zak Crawley and then 68 with Pope.
But it was then that India showed that if their spinners are not enough of a threat, they also have one of the best seamers in the world in Jasprit Bumrah.
Remarkably, this is only Bumrah’s fifth home Test, but that is more a reflection of his workload as a multi-format player than any red-ball restrictions.
Now he found a reverse swing where Mark Wood couldn’t on day two and should have had Duckett lbw alone on 39 for India to decide not to review Chris Gaffaney’s no-out decision. Replays showed all three ‘reds’, much to Bumrah’s dismay.
He didn’t have to wait long to get his man as in his next over flourish, Bumrah Duckett bowled a reverse in-swinging beauty to the southpaw and quickly followed it up with the all-important wicket of Root.
The former England captain quickly looked at his own lbw, believing he had touched the ball, but TV referee Marais Erasmus was satisfied he had not.
Pope has kept England’s hopes alive as England push into a slim 126-point lead against the home side
Jonny Bairstow fell passively playing no shot against Jadeja and when Stokes was bowled by a beauty from Ravichandran Ashwin, the twelfth time he had dismissed him in Test cricket, four wickets had fallen in the middle session and England were on the brink.
Pope and Foakes changed that with the score at 112 ending only when the keeper received a dig from Ashwin and there was little he could do to avoid hitting his stumps.
The England vice-captain persevered till the end with Ahmed for company and even if England don’t turn this unlikely battle into a historic victory, they can at least pin their hopes on Visaghapatnam on Friday.
And that’s almost all thanks to Pope.
