India go back to the drawing board after Pope cracks spin code
Cricket
The hosts suffered their fourth defeat in a home test in the last decade
HYDERABAD (Reuters) - England vice-captain Ollie Pope's batting masterclass in the opening test in Hyderabad has jolted India into a rethink of their plans ahead of the second test in Visakhapatnam this week.
The hosts suffered only their fourth defeat in a home test in the last decade after Pope smashed 196 in arguably the best knock by a touring batter in India.
The right-hander played audacious scoops and numerous sweep shots -- both traditional and reverse -- to disrupt the rhythm of the Indian spinners and forcing the hosts to alter their field placements.
Pope's approach was a refreshingly change from that adopted by most touring batters, who often try just to hang around and hope for success.
India head coach Rahul Dravid was amazed at how Pope nailed so many "high-risk shots" and acknowledged they would have to put a plan together for the batter before the second test gets underway on Friday.
"I haven't seen a better exhibition of sweeping and reverse sweeping in these conditions against that quality of bowling," the former skipper said after their defeat.
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"Having said that, for us now it's important that we respond and come up with some plans and some strategies and see how we can maybe make him play those shots from probably even more difficult lengths."
India's spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel claimed a combined 14 of the 20 English wickets but Dravid felt they could have bowled better.
"Credit to him (Pope), but we were a little bit off.
"In the next test match, if we get our execution right, I hope he makes a mistake."
Pope's 21 fours included a no-look reverse ramp shot, the batter scooping the ball over wicketkeeper Srikar Bharat's head to the boundary.
The 26-year-old said playing reverse sweep in India was a safer and more profitable option than trying to defend the ball with the obvious risk of edging it to the slip.
"The guys we are facing are very skilled bowlers," Pope told reporters after their 28-run victory.
"If you try to defend each ball, there's probably more chance to get out than if you play a cross-batted shot."
"If we can keep nailing them (reverse sweeps), we get more bad balls.
"As batters, if we can hit their best ball for four with a reverse sweep, that is going to lead to more short balls and more half-volleys and open up the outfield."
