Ollie Pope labels 'not having Yashasvi Jaiswal-like series' as his biggest regret from India tour

England's Test vice-captain Ollie Pope has finally broken silence on the biggest regret of his international career. Pope was in England's squad for the India tour for a five-match Test series earlier this year.

The right-hander held one of the most crucial batting spots at No. 3 and started the series in a brilliant fashion at Hyderabad. He scored a brilliant 196 off 278 balls in the second innings of the first Test to turn things around for England. The next best individual score in England's innings was Ben Duckett's 47.

England were already trailing by 190 runs after the first innings of both teams and were under severe pressure. But Pope played an innings for the ages as England set a mammoth target of 231 to chase for India in the fourth innings.

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Ollie Pope finally breaks silence on his biggest regret

While speaking to the Daily Mail, Ollie Pope recalled his mindset during the series against India. After scoring 196 in the first Test, Pope was full of confidence in having a great series just like Yashasvi Jaiswal had. But his form faded away in the next four Tests as he failed to adapt to the conditions.

"We felt like there was quite a negative sort of narrative on the team after India, but we always knew winning out there is the biggest challenge in cricket. When I hit that 196, I was like ‘right, I am going to go and have a big series. Like Yashasvi Jaiswal had, trying to score as many as possible. But I probably didn't adapt my game quickly enough to the conditions that were in front of me rather than just the conditions of the first Test," Pope said.

England went on to win the first Test of the series by 28 runs as they took an early lead into the series. Pope was adjudged Player of the Match for his spectacular performance with the bat.

Ollie Pope's form faded away; Yashasvi Jaiswal shows consistency

But his form dipped dramatically from there onwards. In the remaining nine innings, he averaged under 14 and finished with 315 runs in five Tests at an average of 31.50. Surprisingly, he did not cross the fifty even once after the first Test.

Meanwhile, Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 712 runs in five Tests at an average of 89. He had a dream series and scored 2 hundreds and 3 fifties. The left-hander batted at an unbelievable strike rate of 79.91 in the series.

Ollie Pope speaks on not being able to convert his scores into big ones

Pope further revealed his frustration of not scoring big despite a great start. The right-hander felt annoyed with not being able to make his starts count.

"That was a frustration, because when you go into a five-match series, you've got a chance to play yourself into form but you can play yourself out of form too, and in 10 innings in India that's exactly what happened."

"I felt good a couple of times, got myself in, and if I'd kicked on and made one of those innings an 80 and a couple of them 50, it's completely different. That's the frustrating thing for me - I'm not so annoyed with the low scores, it's more when I get myself in and don't kick on," Pope added.

After winning the first Test, England lost steam and lost the next four Tests to lose the series 1-4 to the hosts India. Although their spinner bowled with a big heart, the performance of the batters kept dipping down in a long series.