Manchester, Jul 25 (PTI) England vice-captain Ollie Pope and Joe Root struck unbeaten half-centuries to take the hosts to 332/2 at lunch on day three of the fourth Test here on Friday.

Resuming on 225/2, the duo added 107 runs in the morning session to reduce India's first-innings lead to 26 runs.

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Pope (70 batting) scored his fifty in 93 balls, while Root took 99 deliveries to get to his his half-century.

Root (63 not out) also surpassed Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis to become the third-highest run-scorer in Test history.

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Openers Ben Duckett (94) and Zak Crawley (84) had notched up half centuries on Thursday after England bowled India out for 358.

Brief scores:

India 1st innings: 358 all out in 114.1 overs (Sai Sudharsan 61, Yashasvi Jaiswal 58; Ben Stokes 5/72).

England 1st innings: 332/2 in 74 overs (Ben Duckett 94, Zak Crawley 84, Ollie Pope 70 batting, Joe Root 63 batting; Ravindra Jadeja 1/59 ).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)