“Something Gill could incorporate into his batting”: Manjrekar on Ollie Pope’s blistering knock

New Delhi [India]: Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar said that India batter Shubman Gill should incorporate what Ollie Pope did using his front foot to good effect. 

England middle-order batter Ollie Pope changed his batting approach in the second innings of the ongoing Test match of the five-match series against India. 

The cricketer-turned-commentator stated that Pope going to the front foot was purposeful and he was in search of scoring runs. He thinks that youngster Shubman Gill should think of doing the same thing as he bats very well on the front foot. 

“There was one very important difference in the way he (Pope) played in the first as opposed to the second. He still trusted his front foot game, but if you look at the first few balls that he faced, he got onto the front foot, but it was a very purposeful reaction and effort where he was looking for ones and twos; he was looking to score. That’s something Shubman Gill could incorporate into his batting because he also likes to get onto the front foot,” the former cricketer told ESPNcricinfo. 

Pope was dismissed for one in the first innings but in the second innings, he came with a different mindset as he held onto his end and went on to score 196 runs off 278 balls which was laced with 21 fours. 

The reverse sweep was his ace in the hole, he picked up boundaries using the shot, forcing India’s spinners to change their plan of attack again and again. 

Manjrekar opined that the Three Lions batter struggled against Indian spinners as he is over-dependent on playing on the front foot. The 58-year-old further asserted that the right-hand batter backed this approach and this time around he was successful in his plans. 

Manjrekar feels that Pope’s hundred in the second innings of the Hyderabad Test is one of the best tons from a visiting side in India in recent times. He applauded the 26-year-old’s knock as “one of the finest hundreds that you’d see”. 

“I’ve seen Kevin Pietersen, as an English batter, get a fantastic hundred at the Wankhede Stadium. I’ve seen Steve Smith get a hundred for Australia in Pune. I think Ollie Pope has played one of the finest innings that we have seen in recent times from a foreign batter on a pitch like this. One of the finest hundreds that you’d see,” the former middle-order player concluded.