England batsman Ollie Pope feels that his teammate Joe Root will be focused on converting his unbeaten 99 into a “monster score” during the third Test match with India when the play resumes on Day 2.
On Day 1 of the match, Root was left one run short of completing his 37th Test century.
Speaking about Root`s chances of converting his knock into a huge score, Pope said, “I think obviously he would have loved to walk off 100. However, I think the bloke`s got 36 of them now. So I don`t think he`ll be too sleepless because of that. I think his plans tomorrow will be definitely try and make it a monster, a monster innings. So yeah, he`ll get his head down, I`m sure but yeah, it would be nice to see him get it, but yeah, he`ll be looking at the bigger picture and trying to make it a monster”.
Further, when asked about the side`s decision to bat first in the match, Pope stated that they are not used to playing at 28 degrees Celsius in England.
“I think we`re probably, I guess, we`re not used to this 28-degree sun in England and that changes how wicket plays. Normally, English pitches are probably at their best on days two, three, four, five, and they hold together pretty nicely,” said the 27-year-old.
“I guess we`re not as used to having just five days of sun. So that`s probably, so yeah, we`ll see as it goes on, how quickly it does deteriorate. I`m sure this pitch will hold together fairly well and then fingers crossed when it comes for our last time to bowl, whenever it is, then hopefully it plays a few tricks, but that`s a long way away for now. So yeah, I think with the sun on it for a few days, it might just sort of maybe get a bit slower and lower, but yeah, we`ll see. I`m no pitchman,” he added.
Coming to Day 1 of the third match, after the wickets of both openers, England`s Ollie Pope scored 44 runs in 104 balls, including four boundaries. Later, Harry Brook departed early on just 11 runs, which came in 20 balls, laced with two boundaries.
Despite losing wickets, stalwart Joe Root delivered an unbeaten knock of 99 runs in 191 balls. So far, his knock includes nine boundaries. Along with him is skipper Ben Stokes, who is still unbeaten on 39 runs in 102 balls, including three boundaries.
Team India`s Jasprit Bumrah bagged one wicket by conceding 35 runs in 18 overs. Reddy accounted for two, followed by Ravindra Jadeja`s one wicket.
Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj and Washington Sundar went wicketless on Day 1 of the third Test.
(With ANI Inputs)
