Haven't seen a better exhibition: India coach all praise for England's Ollie Pope after defeat in 1st Test

India head coach Rahul Dravid has conceded that England's Ollie Pope played really well in the third innings of the first Test in Hyderabad. Pope's 196 laid the foundation for a sensational England win on day 4 (Jan 28) as India failed to chase 231 in the fourth innings. Pope used a lot of sweep and reverse sweep shots and Dravid agreed that it was the finest use of those shots ever in subcontinent conditions.

"I haven't seen a better exhibition of sweeping and reverse sweeping [than Ollie Pope] ever in these conditions against that quality of bowling," Dravid said at the post-match presentation.

The head coach, however, acknowledged the need to come up with a plan for the next four matches left in the series. "Having said that, for us now, it's important that we respond and come up with some plans and some strategies and see how we can maybe make him play those shots from probably even more difficult lengths and be even more disciplined and even more meticulous with our execution," Dravidsaid.

Dravid also pointed out that the spin trio of Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel were a bit off in their execution which also helped Pope play the masterful innings.

"Because, I thought a little bit our execution went off. Not by much. Credit to him, but we were a little bit off and hopefully in the next Test match, if we get our execution right, then I hope he makes a mistake," noted the head coach.

India kept losing wickets at regular intervals after the opening partnership of 42 runs between skipper Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal. It was the 57-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Ashwin and Srikar Bharat that gave India some hope, but England spinner Tom Hartley's 7/62 on debut dashed all hopes for India as they got all out for 202.

The next Test starts on February 2 in Vizag.