I wouldn’t mind copying Kohli’s playing style: Ollie Pope

London [UK], Feb 9 (ANI): Young English cricketer Ollie Pope is not someone who tries to copy another player’s style, but when it comes to Indian skipper Virat Kohli, he doesn’t mind copying him.
The 20-year-old praised Kohli for his batting technique and admitted that watching him play, especially in the Nottingham Test where India had registered a thumping 203 runs victory over England, taught him a lot.
“I usually don't try and copy other players, but one player I wouldn't mind is Kohli, to be honest,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Pope, as saying.
“I think the way he played there [in Nottingham], it was awesome to play against him and see him first-hand. The way he stood outside his crease when he batted and tried to negotiate the swing. He was who I enjoyed watching, and I learnt a lot from him,” Pope added.
Kohli had played a heroics innings 97 and 103 helping his side register their lone Test victory against England in the five-match series.
Pope played his debut Test against India at the age of 20 which is an overwhelming thing for any young cricketer and he himself admitted that the experience was “surreal”. But the tides took a turn as the right-hand batsman was dropped from the Trent Bridge Test owing to his poor score in last two games. Pope, however, feels that it helped him improve his game.
“I sort of experienced the ups and the downs within two weeks of cricket, which has actually put me in good stead for the future. It doesn't really get bigger than that. The Test series was a good way of me understanding what sort of a player I was. Mentally I felt I coped with all of that pretty well,” Pope said.
The Englishman also opened up about his relation with Joe Root and said that he is the best person to learn how to handle different situations. Pope also revealed that he tries and picks Root’s brain as much as possible.
"I tried to speak to Joe Root as much as I could when I was in the England dressing room. I feel I sort of play fairly similar game to him, especially the shot selections I make. I feel he is the best person for me to learn off in situations. I look to go about things in the same sort of way like him when I'm batting so I try to pick his brains as much as possible,” he said.
Pope has played a total of two Test matches so far scoring 54 runs at an average of 18.0. (ANI)