Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers showered high praise on England’s Ollie Pope for his remarkable innings of 196 in the just-concluded Test series opener against India in Hyderabad. AB de Villiers was quite stunned by seeing Ollie Pope playing a wide range of shots as the pitch was quite a rank turner from Day 1 itself.
Ollie Pope was just calm and composed- AB de Villiers
In agreement with Team India head coach Rahul Dravid’s admiration for Ollie Pope’s adept use of the reverse sweep, former South Africa captain AB de Villiers expressed similar sentiments in his latest YouTube video. De Villiers said,
“The man of the moment, the legend himself, Ollie Pope. No one saw this coming. Unbelievable scenes when Rahul Dravid comes out and recognizes something special. It is very true what he says.”
Speaking about the way Ollie Pope countered the Experienced Indian Spinners with great ease, De Villiers said,
“I watched almost every single ball and it was just incredible how this guy worked the ball around on a very difficult track against the best spinners in the world. It doesn’t get any harder than that. He was just calm and composed,”
Ollie Pope single-handedly bailed England out of trouble with a marathon knock of 196 giving them 231 runs to defend in the 4th innings of the Hyderabad Test. The hosts were stunned with a inspiring bowling display from the English bowlers and eventually fell 28 runs short of the target.
I promise you maybe 999 out of a thousand bowlers would give up– AB de Villiers on Tom Hartley
England Left arm spinner Tom Hartley who made his debut in the same game was taken to cleaners in the first innings with an onslaught from Yashasvi Jaiswal. AB de Villiers stated that most of the bowlers wouldve given up following that.
De Villiers said,
“The way he started, 0/51 from his first six overs of a Test match, I promise you maybe 999 out of a thousand bowlers would be gone; they would give up. There’s no coming back from that. Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma hitting Hartley all over the place,”
Tom Hartley cameback pretty well during the Indian second innings. The young spinner bowled a dream spell picking up 7 key wickets. Speaking about his inspirational spell, De Villiers remarked,
“For any player just to half sort of come back into the contest is already incredible, but the way he came back, getting nine wickets in this Test match, is unbelievable. So, well done, Tom Hartley, showing a lot of character. A lot of heart from Heartly,”
England leads the 5-match series 1-0 and the second Test will commence from February 2 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.