‘I’ve changed my technique slightly for this series’ – Ollie Pope on his batting style for England’s tour of India

England’s top-order batsman Ollie Pope recently played a phenomenal knockdown against India in the first test match of the match test series of England’s tour of India. England chose to bat first and ended up winning the first test match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on the fourth day itself. Ollie Pope missed a well-deserving double century by four runs as he was dismissed by the Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah at the score of 196. 

Pope analysed his knock after the game and openly admitted that he changed his batting style for this particular series after coming back from a shoulder injury which gave him a lot of time to prepare for the tournament. Ollie transformed his batting as he tried to protect his inside edge which added pressure on the Indian bowlers as he continuously protected his wicket for 278 balls. 

Ollie Pope on his batting technique against India in 1st Test 

“I’ve tinkered throughout my career so far, I’ve changed my technique slightly for this series specifically. I had shoulder surgery, so I’ve had a long time to prepare for this series and make some adjustments to what I produced the last time we were here three years ago. I’ve worked hard on my game and tried to tailor my technique for these conditions,” Pope told ESPNcricinfo. 

“It was about covering my inside edge and trying to put some pressure back on the bowlers as well with the sweeps and reverse sweeps… The guys we are facing are very skilled bowlers. You can pretty much know where each ball is going to land and if you try to defend each ball there’s probably more chance to get out than if you play a cross-batted shot,” Pope said. 

“I don’t think I nailed my first 20-odd runs, I was thinking ‘why is it not hitting the middle of the bat’. But then out here it could be as safe as playing a defence, a sweep or reverse sweep,” he added.