England’s vice-captain Ollie Pope rated his knock of 196 runs against India at Hyderabad as the best he has played in his Test career. This was Pope’s fifth Test century as he played at the top of his game and got the job done for the visitors. England went on to register a fine win of 28 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Pope was dismissed for a solitary run in the first innings but he bounced back strongly in the second essay. The flamboyant batter scored a total of 21 fours in his masterclass knock.
Pope’s 196 is the highest for England in the second innings against India in India. Furthermore, Pope’s knock of 196 was also the fourth-highest individual score by a visiting batter in India in the second innings of a Test match.
Pope played confidently against the Indian spinners and made the most of the sweep and reverse sweep to launch his counterattack. The England vice-captain also had the rub of the green as he was dropped on 110 and 186 by Axar Patel and KL Rahul respectively. Ollie Pope was awarded Player of the Match for his mind-blowing knock.
Ollie Pope said in the post-match presentation, “100 percent (best knock). To come here to India, probably the toughest place for a batter, to start the series like this, to do it in a winning cause, heads and shoulders above the other four (hundreds). I got a bit luckier in the second innings. I played and missed a few. First up, I was at peace with getting out caught at slip like I did in the first. I was focused on covering the inside edge.”
He added, “I knew that was the real danger ball. I maintained that mindset and really wanted to be positive with my sweep and reverse sweep. I have changed my technique slightly for this series specifically. I had a shoulder surgery, so I had a long time to prepare for this series. Made some adjustments, worked hard on my game. The family have had early starts throughout the week, they can finally get some sleep, will be nice catching up with them.”
The second Test match between India and England will be played at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam from 2nd February.
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