Former England batter Geoffrey Boycott showered praise on Ollie Pope after his sensational knock of 196 runs in the second innings of the opening Test match against India at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad.
England was under the cosh as they conceded a huge lead of 190 runs in the first innings but Pope was able to put the visitors in front with his magnificent knock. Pope scored his fifth Test century and played one of the most astonishing knocks on the Indian soil against a potent spin battery of Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja.
The flamboyant right-hander scored 21 fours in his fine knock as he played at the top of his game. With the help of Pope’s masterclass, England posted 420 runs in the second essay to take a lead of 230 runs. India was then bundled out for 202 runs as the visitors registered a memorable win.
Pope played a vice-captain’s knock and he was awarded the Player of the Match.
In his column for the Telegraph, Boycott wrote, “Pope’s 196 was one of the best I have ever seen and on a par with Kevin Pietersen’s 186 in Mumbai in 2012. Great is a word often misused in sport but not for this innings. It was superb. Pope failed in his first innings pushing hard at the ball so nobody could have foreseen how he would mesmerise a top Indian attack.”
Boycott credited Pope for upsetting Indian spinners’ length by making the most of the sweep and reverse sweep shots.
“But he did this by employing lots of sweeps, reverse sweeps and switch hits that upset the bowlers’ lengths. He was controlling them when they should have been controlling him on that surface. England’s sweeping, reverse sweeping, scoops and switch hitting really has India worried. It is all designed to upset spinners and stop them dictating and bowling on a length.”
Meanwhile, debutant Tom Hartley was taken to the cleaners by Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first innings after England could only manage 246 runs on the board. However, when India needed to chase 231 in the final innings, Hartley was right on the money and registered figures of 7-62 to take England to a historic win.
“Once India needed 231 to win their chances were slim. All England’s spinners had to do was turn their arms over, not try anything fancy, bowl the length often and let the pitch do it for them. Tom Hartley had a tough baptism in India’s first innings. He was nervous and showed it in his first Test. Because England only scored 246 batting first the Indian batsmen were relaxed and whacked his first ball for six,” Boycott wrote.
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.
