'If the pitch spins from the first ball then...', the English batsman stated the Test series against India

Ahead of England's five-match Test series starting on January 25 in Hyderabad, vice-captain and top-order batsman Ollie Pope said that his team will have no complaints if the pitches in the series spin from the first ball. It is all about finding a way to deal with the spin challenge in the subcontinent.

Pope was a member of the England team that came to India in 2021. After winning the opening Test in Chennai, the visitors lost the series 3–1 due to brilliant bowling from Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel. The Pope said, 'There will be a lot of noise outside. And pitches can be the subject of massive discussion. But you must remember that both teams are playing on the same wicket, so we need to be as prepared as possible.

Pope said, 'In England, we can leave more grass on the pitch to suit our amazing seamers, so it would be no surprise if India do the same to suit their spinners. And I think low-scoring Test matches (where the ball hits the bat) are wonderful to watch.

Pope told The Guardian before joining England's pre-tour preparation camp in Abu Dhabi: 'I watched a lot of the South Africa vs India game and it was great, people were scoring seriously hard and the ball was flying. I was flying. The scores may be the same in India but we won't complain if the pitches spin from the first ball. It's about finding a way to combat it.'

Pope struggled to get going in Indian conditions and managed only 153 runs at an average of 19.13 in eight innings. He believes that there is a need to be aggressive against the spinners, with England's ultra-attacking style being key to destabilizing their lengths, which is one of his key learnings from the 2021 tour.

The Pope said, 'We had some young people with us on that tour. Me, Zac Crawley, Ben Foakes - it was our first tour to India and we were probably surprised when it changed from the first ball (after the first Test). But if we had understood the pitch well and quickly.

Pope said, 'I look at the guys who were most successful, Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant, they didn't rotate the strike a lot. It isn't easy to do that on those pitches, you can't just do spin like you do in England. You need a solid defence to hit the spinners off their lengths, but also to have four and six options.'

He concluded, 'Last time the dangerous ball was the one that went straight – the one that swung almost too much. It's like in England when the (seaming) ball goes past your outside edge, you play it well with soft hands or miss it. It's a case of maintaining calm even after being beaten - if you are covering (LBW and bowled) it is almost a victory.