I Watch And Learn From Virat Kohli, Says England Star Ollie Pope

Ollie Pope has set his sights on becoming one of the best batsmen in the world and England’s highly-rated batsman could not picked better players to follow. The right-handed batsman, who is currently in South Africa for the ongoing Test series, has said that he wants to emulate the likes of Virat Kohli and Steve Smith.

Ollie Pope is being widely regarded as the most promising young player to emerge from county cricket since his England captain, Joe Root. The middle-order batsman, who made his Test debut against India in 2018, has a first-class average of 58.06 and has started impressing at international level too. In three innings in South Africa so far, he has scored two fifties.

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And as he starts garnering attention from all around, Ollie Pope has stated that he has been watching and learning from Steve Smith and Virat Kohli. The India skipper is currently the top-ranked Test and ODI batsman in the world while Smith is number two Test batsman.

“The way I went about my innings was just remembering how some of the best players in the world have done it,” said Pope while talking about his fifty in Cape Town Test before adding: “I remember watching Smith and Kohli from when they played against England and how, even when they were nine down, they were trying to face almost every ball.”

“You ask any young batsman coming into the game, 100% they are the guys you want to be like – and Rooty. They have been the main run-scorers in international cricket over the last however many years and hopefully I’ve got the game that I can start building towards that, get some big scores and follow in some of their footsteps.

“I wouldn’t say I tried to copy their techniques at all because they all play completely differently but the one thing they’ve all got in common is having those solid foundations and they can build their game around that. That’s what I’m trying to do as well, just nailing those basics and nailing the technique. Hopefully, if I keep doing the right things, the big scores will follow,” he added.

The four-match series between South Africa and England, meanwhile, is currently locked at 1-1 after the visitors bounced back in style to win the second game in Cape Town. The crucial third Test gets underway on Thursday in Port Elizabeth.