England blessed to have this Pope

Hyderabad: The joy was unmissable in Joe Root’s face when the former England skipper was asked about Ollie Pope’s career-changing unbeaten century in the second innings of the opening Test against India here on Friday.

“I’m speechless. It’s one of the best knocks that I've ever seen,” he exclaimed. It certainly was.

Not only did Pope leave the Indian bowlers and the packed audience at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium speechless following a brilliant unbeaten 148 (208b, 17x4), it perhaps will go down as one of the finest knocks an Englishman has played in the subcontinent. The sheer audacity the 26-year-old Surrey batter displayed in dismantling an Indian attack comprising R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Jasprit Bumrah — all masters in bundling out sides in these conditions —  was stunning to say the least.

Joining forces with Ben Duckett after Zak Crawley was dismissed in the 10th over, Pope continued with what his skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum had devised — play the sweep and reverse no matter what the situation or who the spinner was. It’s one thing to conceive an idea but another to execute it flawlessly against players of the quality of Ashwin, Axar and Jadeja.

Pope simply smothered them with his daredevilry. Literally toying with the lengths the trio bowled, Pope just kept mixing the orthodox shots with sweeps to ensure England kept chugging along above 5 runs an over. That was when things were going smoothly for England. The complexion of the game changed when India bagged quick wickets to leave England reeling at 163/5. The situation was a stern test of Pope’s character.

Having endured a stop-start career due to injuries and indifferent returns at the highest level, Pope knew this was the moment to make a name for himself. Although his career has been on the upswing since coming back to the Test fold under the Stokes-McCullum management, this was a chance to enhance his credentials.

 “To manipulate the field as he did against that attack, on that surface, to show the powers of concentration and determination and fitness and skill, all combined was immense. So some brilliant vital partnerships along the way as well,” said Root assessing Pope’s innings.

“It shows great mental strength. We all know he’s got an array of shots and can score all round the wicket, he's shown that today. To have that self-belief and desire to put a score together for the team and get us to where we are was outstanding. The maturity he showed and the smarts, the way he manoeuvred the field was unbelievable really. Some of the shots and the vision of how he went about it was exceptional.”

Not long ago Pope’s career was at the crossroads. Following a disappointing 2021/22 Ashes where he managed just 67 runs in three Tests in Australia, Pope was back in the drawing board. It looked like he would have to go through the grind on domestic cricket to don the national colours again. 

An avenue opened in the summer of 2022 when Stokes took charge of the Test team. Pope instantly dialled his skipper and offered to bat at the vacant number three slot although he had not batted in that position. It was the only way back for him and he didn’t want to let go. Stokes and McCullum not only handed the opportunity but even bestowed vice-captaincy on him later on. Pope proved why the duo believe in him so much.