England vs India, 4th Test, Day 2: Ollie Pope, Chris Woakes hit fifties as England post 290 in first innings

London, Sep 3: Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes made their comebacks special as they smashed brilliant half-centuries to take England to 290 in their first innings and took a decent 99-run-lead over India on day two of the fourth Test here at The Oval on Friday (September 3).

Pope scored 81, while all-rounder Woakes scored a quickfire 50 off 60 balls and took their team to a sizeable lead. Woakes - who picked up a four-for with the ball and played a crucial role to restrict the visitors to 191 in their first innings - frustrated the Indian bowlers with his explosive batting.

Woakes smashed eleven boundaries in his stay into the crease and even took India's premier bowler Bumrah on remand when Virat Kohli took the second new ball.

For India, Umesh Yadav finished with 3 for 76 while Jasprit Bumrah took 2 for 67. Ravindra Jadeja also got a couple of wickets while Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj finished with a wicket apiece.

Earlier, the hosts lost the wicket of set Moeen Ali at the stroke of tea break while Pope continued to make his comeback special as the hosts lost wickets of Jonny Bairstow and Ali in the second session.

At the tea break, England had managed to overhaul India's first innings total of 191 and took a lead of 36 runs with Pope 74* and Chris Woakes 0* present in the middle. India picked up a couple of wickets in the post-lunch session in Bairstow and Ali but the English batters also scored runs at over three runs per over. At the end of the second session, England posted 227/7 in 70 overs.

England vs India, 4th Test Day 2: Pope-Bairstow revive hosts in 1st session after Umesh's dual strikes

Mohammed Siraj picked up the wicket of Bairstow early in the session and broke the 89-run partnership between the English wicketkeeper and Pope - who is making his comeback in the playing eleven.

Having steered their team through troubled waters with their fifty-plus partnership, Pope and Bairstow looked to frustrate the visitors further in the afternoon session at The Oval. But Siraj broke the partnership with a delivery angling inwards as it crashed into the pads of Bairstow. Bairstow went upstairs to review the umpire's decision but to no avail.

After Bairstow's departure, England hoped for another gritty partnership between Ali and Pope. The duo stitched another vital fifty-stand for the team as England overhauled India's first innings total and later took lead.

However, just when it seemed England will go into the session break after losing just a wicket but Moeen played a rash stroke against Ravindra Jadeja and was caught at short-cover by Rohit Sharma for 36.

Earlier in the day, pacer Umesh Yadav - who picked up the wicket of India's tormenter-in-chief in the series Joe Root - went on picking up a couple of wickets in the morning session on day two as he dismissed nightwatchman Craig Overton early and soon got rid of Dawid Malan.

Overton (1) failed to add any runs to his overnight score before getting caught at slip cordon by Virat Kohli. Malan (31) added a few runs to his total from the last evening before Umesh got him caught by Rohit Sharma at slip. The left-handed nicked the away going delivery and Rohit took a fine catch to end his innings. England looked in dire straits as half of the side was back in the hut for 63.