How Ollie Pope and England systematically humbled R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel | Cricket News

On a wearing pitch, England amassed 420 in the second innings against Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, deploying the reverse sweep, conventional sweeps and down-the-track charges in an tactically-done Bazball way. Here is how Ollie Pope and Co. systematically targeted the Indian spinners, forcing them to alter their plans.
A plan emerges with opener Zak Crawley reverse-sweeping Ashwin’s length ball on the middle and off from round the stumps square to the point boundary. It was his second reverse sweep. Earlier, he had opted for the same shot and got the same result in the second over.
* 7th over: Crawley hits six, Duckett reverses
Moments after Crawley paddles a Axar delivery around the corner, Rohit Sharma moves midwicket to short-fine. Immediately, Crawley jumps down the track to crash-land the ball over long-on. The cat-and-mouse game has begun. Same over, the left-handed Ben Duckett reverse-slaps a four.

* 8th over: Crawley vs Ashwin, Pope’s entry
A couple more sweeps makes Ashwin switch to over the wicket and have just one man in front on the off side at covers, and Crawley pings the cover boundary. Ashwin gets Crawley next over with a slider from round the stumps. Enter Ollie Pope, who reverse sweeps his second ball but doesn’t connect properly. England’s plan is clear but it’s not apparent yet to the onlookers as Kevin Pietersen says on air that “Pope needs to calm down, not manufacture something”.
* Duckett forces Axar to change plans
There is rough outside Duckett’s off stump but Axar is bowling from round the stumps and keeps targetting middle and leg, as the left-hander wallops a couple of fierce reverse sweeps to the square boundary. “With that angle, he isn’t hitting the rough. Has to go over the wicket,” Ravi Shastri sighs on air. Axar tries to bring the ball towards middle stump, and Duckett reverse-slaps him again. Axar signals in the 11th over to Rohit to have a man at point region to intercept but is denied.

* Ashwin, Axar try but Duckett reverse laps
Ashwin, who has been bowling early 90kmph, tries a 77kmph slower dipping full toss to see if it upsets Duckett’s bat-speed. Nope. Duckett adjusts cleverly, waits to reverse-lap to third man boundary. In the 13th over, Axar goes over the wicket finally, but Duckett takes an off-stump guard and blasts a conventional sweep to the boundary.
* Post lunch: Tactical bashing continues
As he would do throughout his knock, Pope hardly stays quiet for any length of period. Just three balls of pushing Ashwin to covers in the first over, he reverse sweeps; it’s just a single but Ashwin’s plans are upset. He goes over the wicket, gets real close to the stumps, but Pope sashays down the track to ease the in-drifter to straight boundary. Next ball, he glances Ashwin to fine-leg boundary. The over-the-wicket attack is quickly abandoned again Ashwin.

* Pope targets Jadeja
Jadeja is brought back into attack in the 25th over after a few overs of seam and immediately Pope reverse-sweeps him for a four. Silly point moves out to short point. “Koi nahi yaar (it’s all right)” screams KS Bharat, whose exhortations through the day keep changing, reflecting England’s domination. He had started with “one brings in two (one wicket would trigger a collapse) at start of Pope’s knock. In the afternoon, he would talk about “patience rakhenge Jaddu, bowl in the right areas”, and evening, it would reduce to just “keep bowling”. India just kept bowling the end. In the 33rd over, Pope slog-sweeps a Jadeja length ball from outside off to midwicket boundary. Correcting length dragging it back, as was the case with Jadeja after sweeps, hasn’t worked.
* Ashwin returns to over the wicket but…
After being reverse-swept and carted to cow corner an advancing Pope, Ashwin goes over the wicket in the 37th over. Pope sweeps uppishly to the deep and Ashwin course-corrects dragging it short and its easily tapped away. Ashwin tries to keep a straight fielder behind him almost at the deep, but Pope isn’t bothered, dancing down the track and targeting wide long-on boundary.
* Post Tea: Nothing working still
now, Rohit had given up attacking. A short point, a backward point, and just a slip in place and he starts this session not with Bumrah and Ashwin but with the two left-arm spinners. Pope sweeps Jadeja a few times.
* Ashwin, over the stumps
In the 54th over, Ashwin had another brief attempt from this angle. He slips in a beauty that loops, dips, and breaks back from outside off and through the intended Pope drives past the leg stump. “That’s the length I am talking about,” announces Sunil Gavaskar, who has been exasperated with the lengths and line of attack the whole day. But on the very next ball, perhaps anticipating a reverse sweep, Ashwin goes fuller and Pope pulls out the conventional sweep. Back round the stumps, and Pope reverse-sweeps off the length to square boundary.
* Jadeja does beat Pope
Interestingly, in this phase, Jadeja had quite a few balls that went past Pope; nearly all of them landing around off stump and turning away and Pope, who likes to feel the ball on bat as they say, kept poking and missing. But the length and line wasn’t maintained consently. And when Pope brought up his hundred with an on drive, a stat flashed on the telly: Backfoot 30%, Front foot 50% and Stepping down 20%.A silly point appears for Jadeja and Pope reverse-sweeps a boundary and nearly holes out next ball with another reverse-sweep on 110 but Axar Patel clangs it at backward point. Jadeja sinks to the ground, holding his head; Rohit throws his head skywards. Next ball, though, is short but this time Pope isn’t sweeping, but punching it through covers for a four.

* Pope lap-scoops Axar
With Axar homing in on the off stump from a length, Pope doesn’t reverse sweep him, but on 120, pulls out the reverse-lap-scoop over slip. Then plays out a couple of dot balls before reverse-scooping over his own head.
* Second new ball: Pope at it
He pushes three full-length balls quietly before lap-scooping Jadeja over slips to boundary in the first over (89th of the innings) of the new ball. “Keep bowling, Jaad” cries Bharat.
* Tom Hartley joins in
Hartley charges down the track to spinners and also sweeps them, and at 406 for 7, he reverse-sweeps Ashwin for a four. That’s when Kevin Pietersen announces to the world: “Not often you see Ashwin and Jadeja rattled, but they are rattled. It’s a shot clearly practiced, practiced, and practiced. There are no consequences for these English batsmen. They are encouraged to be unorthodox and encouraged to be free spirited”.