But as luck would have it on Day 4, Pope was clean bowled by India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah while trying to play a reverse-scoop. Pope failed to pick the change of pace, got early into his shot and for the first time in the second innings, he couldn’t make contact with the reverse-scoop.The ball crashed into the off-stump.
Pope’s 196 was instrumental in making India bat again in this Test as England ended their second innings on 420 all out, with the hosts needing 231 runs to win.
Pope stuck around with the middle and lower-order to get 256 runs with batsmen number seven, eight and nine to frustrate the Indian bowling.
Bumrah took down Rehan Ahmed on 28 early in the morning to end an overnight partnership of 64, but Pope kept up the charge with debutant Tom Hartley.
Pope and Hartley put together 80 runs for the eighth wicket before Ravichandran Ashwin bowled the left-handed Hartley for 34.
Pope, who handled the Indian attack with aplomb through his sweeps and reverse sweeps in the marathon knock, survived a reprieve on 184 when KL Rahul dropped him at first slip.
Pope, who was dropped on 110 too on Day 3, remained the star with his knock for the ages as he hit 21 fours in his 278-ball stay.
Almost all the Indian players shook hands with Pope acknowledging a great knock and he walked out to a standing ovation from the fans at the stadium.
A video shared by England Cricket on X showed that Pope also got a standing ovation from the England support staff and his teammates as he walked back to the pavilion at the end of England innings:
