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'Threat To Both Edges': Ollie Pope Fears Ashwin, Jadeja & Axar Before India Tests

image-lpkqw282Pope has secured England's top 3 spot in Bazball era (x.com)

England’s batting prodigy Ollie Pope has vowed that his side is determined to play a ferocious brand of cricket to tackle India in the upcoming Test series starting on January 25. The Surrey-based batter is conscious of the threat being presented by the likes of Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja but wants to cash in on every single scoring opportunity.

While England endured a prolific run in the Test arena for the past 18 months which also included a 3-0 whitewash against Pakistan on Pakistani soil, they will need to fight to the teeth to defeat India at home. India have maintained a dominant record at home since their 2012 test series defeat to England. Virtually every touring team have been bamboozled and experienced little to no success against the Blues. Undoubtedly, India are deemed to start as firm favorites in the five-game series.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Pope highlights that many pitches in India would not be high-scoring ones and hence stresses the value of every single run.

“That is exactly how we are going to see things (taking the aggressive option). It’s about managing your expectations. You want to score a hundred every game, and you’ve failed if you don’t. But in India, it might be that case that a run-a-ball 60 is match-winning, 200 might be a good score on some pitches.”

Furthermore, the 25-year-old also emphasized the need to develop an aggressive approach to counter Ashwin and Jadeja in order to have a crack at winning the series. The Indian spin-bowling duo have been instrumental in ensuring India’s Test dominance at home.

“There’s threat to both edges as a right-hander. Ashwin is probably the best spinner in the world, but (Ravindra) Jadeja and Axar are spinning the ball away from the bat sharply. It’s knowing how you want to score; taking on the bowler and putting them under pressure. It’s a tough place to go and win, but we will give it as much of a crack as we can playing our way.”

Pope featured in England's Test squad for the 2021 Test series which ultimately ended in a crushing 3-0 defeat for the Poms. During that series, Pope could only scavenge 153 runs at a paltry average of 19.13.