‘It's an absolute masterclass’ - Joe Root lauds Ollie Pope’s mammoth knock against India

Veteran English batter Joe Root heaped massive praise on star batter Ollie Pope after his mammoth ton against the Indian team in the first Test of the ongoing series. Staying unbeaten on a score of 148 runs in 208 deliveries, Pope kept the hopes alive for England as the visitors ended Day 3 on a score of 316 runs with a lead of 126 runs going into Day 4. 

Talking of his performance, Joe Root came forward and lauded Pope's innings, which was a masterclass of a showing, and revealed that he was speechless after such an exuberant knock.

"The way that Popey has played today... honestly it's an absolute masterclass on how to bat in these conditions as an overseas player, someone that's not exposed to these surfaces day in and day out and to come back off a serious injury like he had in summer and have that amount of time out of the game and then put together that... I'm speechless," Root was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. 

It's one of the best knocks that I've ever seen: Root

Furthermore, Root opined that Pope’s knock was one of the best that he had ever seen and also revealed his happiness for the centurion with the way he played against India’s bowling attack.

"It's one of the best knocks that I've ever seen. I've seen a lot of cricket, played and batted out there in the middle with a lot of brilliant players and to witness that today was really special, I'm so, so pleased for him. And I didn't even mind when he big-dogged me tonight and said 'can you do the press' as vice-captain. Cos to manipulate the field as it did against that attack, on that surface, to show the powers of concentration and determination and fitness and skill, all combined was immense,” Root added.