Former South African captain AB de Villiers praised England’s Ollie Pope after the batter scored a magnificent 196 runs in the just finished Test series opener against India in Hyderabad.
Pope was also praised by Team India coach Rahul Dravid, who was thrilled by the English batter’s reverse-sweeping display. In his recent YouTube video, de Villiers echoed Dravid’s comments.
“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.”
AB de Villiers
AB De Villiers praised Pope for effectively combating the Indian spinners, saying:
“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
The match in Hyderabad improved because of Pope. He helped England get a hearty 231 run-goal for India to beat. In the end, England triumphed, winning the match by 28 runs. This win put them in a lead, 1-0, in the five-match contest.
“999 out of a thousand bowlers would be gone; they would give up” – AB de Villiers on Tom Hartley’s poor start
Tom Hartley, England’s debutant left-arm spinner, was hammered by Indian hitters in his first Test series outing. AB de Villiers felt that most bowlers would be unable to recover from such an onslaught.
The former cricketer commented:
“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.”
AB de Villiers
Hartley made amends on Day 4, returning captain Ben Stokes’ trust with an impressive seven-wicket haul. Reacting to the youngster’s comeback, de Villiers added:
“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
India and England will play their second Test on February 2 at Visakhapatnam’s Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.