Former South African batsman AB de Villiers praised England’s Ollie Pope for his match-winning effort against England in the first test of the five-match series. The 26-year-old scored a remarkable 196-run knock in the second innings to help England overcome the hosts.
Ollie Pope made 196 runs from 278 balls, including 21 boundaries to his knock. His innings helped England score 420 runs, giving India a 231-run target to win in Hyderabad and the batter was brave enough to hit the Indian bowlers around the park in the 2nd innings. Despite the challenging sub-continental wicket, Pope looked comfortable and dominated the Indian bowlers.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ab de Villiers believes it is an honour for England batter Ollie Pope to receive such high praise from legendary cricketers such as Rahul Dravid, and he revealed that he worked hard on the difficult track to rise to the top of the world’s best spinners, hailing him for being more calm and composed in the field.
“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.”
“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,” AB de Villiers said.
Ollie Pope batted aggressively, putting the Indian team under pressure. Despite wickets felling at one end, the England vice-captain demonstrated determination and bravery by bailing out his team and holding the fort. He played spin like a subcontinent batsman, with excellent control over his swings against top Indian spinners.
Tom Hartley Is Showing A Lot Of Character – AB de Villiers
Ab de Villiers praised Tom Hartley for recovering from an onslaught by Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first innings, where the England debutant was taken to the cleaners in the early stages of the innings, and believes it was an incredible recovery for Hartley to come back and pick nine wickets in the game, which is unbelievable for the youngster.
“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.”
“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,” AB de Villiers added.
Although Tom Hartley had a dismal first-innings performance, giving away two sixes in his first over and bowling 2-131 in 25 overs, he rebounded with a match-winning effort in the second innings, taking seven wickets in just 26.2 overs while conceding only 62 runs. Hartley claimed vital wickets, including Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, and Shubman Gill.
