Ollie Pope struck a defiant century to help England bounce back with a lead of 126 after their batting stutter against a persistent Indian attack in the opening Test on Saturday.

England's second innings reached 316/6 at stumps on day three in Hyderabad with Pope (148) and Rehan Ahmed (16) at the crease.

The day began with India on 421/7 and Ravindra Jadeja en route to a well-deserved century. His partner, Axar Patel was also batting relatively fluently the day before, having ended with three consecutive boundaries (4, 6, 4).

However, the England bowlers restricted the Indian batters with some good technique thanks to Joe Root and his part-time spin. Root (4/79) picked up the wickets of Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah in consecutive balls, only for Mohammed Siraj to calmly defend the hat-trick ball.

Jadeja looked confident as he immediately took a review and the replay showcased a spike in noise, but the third umpire judged the evidence to be inconclusive and stuck with the decision.

India then added only 15 runs before Rehan Ahmed ended Axar’s stay at the crease to bowl the hosts out for 436 with a solid lead of 190 runs.

The visitors carried this momentum into their second innings with England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett putting on a 45-run partnership as England raced to 55 for no loss in 11 overs.

R Ashwin then got Crawley to make a error in defence and give an easy catch to India captain Rohit Sharma.

Duckett then combined with Ollie Pope to put on a second-wicket partnership for 68 runs before Bumrah knocked over his off stump to dismiss him for 47.

India finished their first innings on 436 with a lead of 190 and had England in trouble at 163-5 when Pope anchored a 112-run stand with wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, who made 34.

Pope reached his fifth Test ton and first against India with three runs off Jadeja, removing his helmet and raising his bat to soak in the applause.

Pope dug in as he played back-and-forth sweeps to good effect, neutralising India's potent spin attack.

With inputs from AFP