Ollie Pope looked to unsettle Indian bowlers and it was clear plan: Anil Kumble

In a conversation on ‘Match Centre Live’, at the end of Day 3 of the 1st Test against England in Hyderabad on Saturday, Zaheer Khan, former India cricketer, and Expert, JioCinema and Sports18 praised Ollie Pope’s batting, saying, “England is in a good position in this match, the spell from Bumrah made us believe that Indian bowlers might dominate the match, but Ollie Pope had different intentions. The pitch required you to have a solid defence along with all your shots to survive longer. The self-confidence that Pope showed, the way he shuffled between front foot and back foot, his innings was commendable. He took the Indian bowlers by surprise, and he deservingly was the player of the day.”

Owais Shah, former England cricketer, added: “Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett, both used the reverse sweep to good effect and scored a lot of runs, but what was impressive was the use of wrists to take singles and doubles. And speaking about the sweeps, that is something England have planned, and we will continue to see a lot of that in this series.”

Anil Kumble, former India captain, also spoke highly of Pope’s innings: “Ollie Pope was brilliant. India would be hoping that they will be able to come back tomorrow and restrict England to less than 150. It is going to be a tricky run chase, regardless of what the bowling lineup or the quality because it is the fourth innings of a Test match, where the ball is keeping certainly low and it just takes a couple of important batters to get out early – you don’t want panic to set in. Obviously, India have the batting lineup and need to get these four wickets, they can’t let them get away from the score that they are. Pope looked to unsettle the Indian bowlers, it was a clear plan that he had, and it worked for him.”

Kumble also analyzed Axar Patel dropping Pope’s catch and said, “What happened prior to that is something that you don’t want to see on a cricket field if you are part of the Indian cricket team because everyone’s shoulders just drooped. Just before that, Ollie Pope had stepped out and hit Axar Patel over mid-wicket for a four.

And you could see from the commentary box – all the players had their heads down and their shoulders drooped which is something you don’t want to see if you are part of the team management and are observing the body language of a team. And this perhaps went into what Axar must be thinking when the ball came to him. You can’t be too harsh; he is an excellent fielder. I mean he will catch those 10 out of 10 times. But it was an important wicket and if India would’ve gotten Ollie Pope’s wicket, then things could have been different.”