England’s middle-order batsman Ollie Pope has been an ambitious discovery of English cricket, especially in the red-ball format. Pope has been hailed by many as one of England’s rising stars. Though he doesn’t carry much experience under his belt but Pope indeed impresses some of the most prolific names in the international arena.
Currently, Pope is a part of the England squad for the ongoing ‘raise the bat’ Test series against West Indies. The London-born batsman exhibited his temperament and superior batting skills with a dazzling knock of 91 runs in England’s first innings of the third Test.
His solid technique and impressive talent left the legendary Sachin Tendulkar awe-struck as the ‘Master Blaster’ couldn’t control himself to shower praiseworthy comments for the young English batter.
Tendulkar took to Twitter and compared Pope to former England great Ian Bell, who has over 13,000 international runs to his name across formats. Tendulkar observed that the Pope’s stance and footwork are quite similar to Bell.
“Been watching the 3rd Test, @OPope32 seems to have modelled his batting on @Ian_Bell His stance and footwork looks exactly the same to me,” Tendulkar tweeted on Saturday.
Been watching the 3rd Test, @OPope32 seems to have modeled his batting on @Ian_Bell.
His stance and footwork looks exactly the same to me. #ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/sEvNKr1YFZ— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 24, 2020
After Tendulkar’s tweet regarding Pope’s comparison with him, Bell also dropped his reaction. He simply agreed to the Iconic Indian player.
“Who am I to argue with the great man, @sachin_rt! Hopefully, @OPope32 can kick on and score a big hundred today.”
Who am I to argue with the great man, @sachin_rt! 🙌
Hopefully @OPope32 can kick on and score a big hundred today! https://t.co/iWQmdgkpjS— Ian Bell (@Ian_Bell) July 25, 2020
During the first innings, Pope batted superbly but missed out on a well-deserved century by just nine runs as Shannon Gabriel dismissed him on 91. However, his contribution to the team alongside Jos Buttler really helped England. The duo ended up adding 140 runs for the 5th wicket, registering the second-highest partnership for hosts against West Indies at home.
