Manchester, July 25: Unbeaten fifties from Ollie Pope and Joe Root have put England on the verge of taking a first innings lead in the ongoing fourth Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test against India at Old Trafford on Friday. At lunch, England reached 332/2 in 74 overs and trail India by just 26 runs, with Pope and Root unbeaten on 70 and 63 respectively.

It was a session where England continued to capitalise by amassing 107 runs in 28 overs, and push India further on the backfoot, as the tourists’ bowling line-up continued to miss their lengths. Pope and Root built further on the foundations laid by openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley by sharing an unbeaten 135-run stand for the third wicket.

The session began sedately before Root flicked Jasprit Bumrah for four, and was followed by him and Pope taking a boundary each off Mohammed Siraj. Root survived a run-out chance on 22 when Jadeja’s throw from point was off target. To add to India’s agony, neither mid-off or mid-on backed up to the stumps.

The duo continued to take boundaries off India’s frontline pacers before Pope reached his 16th Test fifty off 93 balls. As soon as Root crossed 31, he went past Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis to be the third leading run-getter in Tests.

He now needs 57 more runs to overtake second-placed Ricky Ponting in the list. Later in the session, when India finally got off-spin all-rounder Washington Sundar to bowl from 69th over, Root brought up his 104th fifty-plus score off 99 balls, as a productive session came to an end for England.

Brief Scores: India 358 in 114.1 overs (B Sai Sudharsan 61; Ben Stokes 5-72) lead England 332/2 in 74 overs (Ben Duckett 94, Zak Crawley 84; Ravindra Jadeja 1-59, Anshul Kamboj 1-72) by 133 runs

--IANS

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