Hardik Pandya tries to get under Ollie Pope's skin, debutant reverted sternly

The Test series between England and India has been a jaw-dropping one thus far. The opening match at Edgbaston in Birmingham turned out to be a roller coaster ride and eventually it was the home team which emerged victorious by 31 runs. The second Test at Lord’s has been threatened to be marred by persistent rain, but it couldn’t fizzle out the entertainment quotient from the match.

After heavy downpour played spoilsport in the first day, fast bowler James Anderson ran through the Indian line-up with a five-wicket-haul and bowled them out for 107 runs in 35.2 overs. Meanwhile, the contest was also memorable for Surrey-batsman Ollie Pope, who made his international debut after some sterling performances in the Division One of the County Championship.

The Pandya-Pope altercation

He got his opportunity with the willow in the first session of the third day. Keaton Jennings perished to Mohammed Shami after which Pope took the field. In the meantime, the Indian players, especially Hardik Pandya tried to ruffle the feathers of the 20-year-old debutant. In the start of his innings, the all-rounder had a rough stare at Pope to make him nervous.

However, he didn’t allow the same to unnerve him and tackled the situation appropriately. He looked back at Pandya and the minor incident may have spurred his confidence to a significant extent. He came into his own thereafter and played some gorgeous strokes. In the second ball of his knock, the right-hander flicked Ishant Sharma past square leg for a boundary to open his account.

Thereafter, he punched Kuldeep Yadav through the cover region for a boundary to display his flair as a batsman. In the 21st over, he spanked Shami for another boundary. His knock was eventually cut short by Pandya when an indipper thudded into his pads when the batsman was on the backfoot. Pope scored 28 runs in 38 balls and Hardik Pandya would be happy for the reason that he was able to pin the youngster.

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