The very last time India lost a Test with a first-innings lead of 190 odd was in Galle when Dinesh Chandimal scored an incredible 162. On that day, Chandimal’s strategy was to “sweep and reverse-sweep to put pressure on the bowlers”.

That high-risk, high-reward credo would be structured, across the sea and nine long years later, in Hyderabad, primarily by Ollie Pope.

R Ashwin is the only Indian bowler to have appeared in each of these games, and he’d probably concede that Pope today was as excellent as anyone who has attempted to disrupt his rhythm. The batter attempted a reverse sweep off Ashwin’s second ball of the day but was nearly thwarted by an edge. He did not get a run, but he persisted and tried again. And again.

In total, Pope scored 41 runs off 42 balls against Ashwin. Using a similar template, take 90 off 135 balls from Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, both left-arm spinners.

According to Cricviz, England scored 57 runs on the day using the reverse sweep — a statistic that is sure to dominate discussions about how to beat India’s practically invincible spinners.

It wasn’t just Pope who used that shot; Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett both used it effectively when India started. To his credit, Pope refused to be a one-trick pony. After the confusing reverse sweep, he played a few normal front-foot pushes on the offside. The next few deliveries from Ashwin would see him nudge through midwicket, push one through cover, and continue to flip the strike over. In Galle, India continued to attack fields as Chandimal tore them apart with boundaries, but Pope saw the reverse sweep as a viable single-taking option as India manned the deep with a sweeper cover.

The surfaces were also responding differently, and on a sluggish Hyderabad pitch, Pope’s strategy worked exceptionally well, as he rarely appeared in trouble even while attempting those sweeps repeatedly.

“It can be if you play it well,” Joe Root said when asked if the sweep is as good as the forward defense on spinning wickets.

“It’s challenging when some people spin and others don’t. whether there is constant spin, you can choose whether to take it on and which balls from which line to take a chance on. The most crucial thing is that you are confident that you will not miss. “Be in the mindset of committing to the shot and nailing it for four, one, or whatever,” Root added.

“He [ Pope] did it well. It took him till 110 to make a little error and get dropped. There were a couple of balls that ripped past his outside edge, but that’s to be expected, almost like in England when it’s swinging and seaming about and you almost thank yourself on the back for not chasing it. Everything is precisely the same here. “It was a really special knock,” he explained.

Pope’s variety of shots against the spinners allowed him to score boundaries all over the ground and compel them to bowl in lines away from the stumps for lengthy stretches, as India’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey confirmed.

“They took on the attack when it was needed, and sometimes it occurs because someone like him [Pope], who constantly plays these kinds of strokes, puts the bowlers under strain with line variations. But I believe it happens. But we still have to be patient with the lines and the appropriate spots to gain a wicket, an edge, or something,” he explained.

It accorded with some of Root’s arguments for giving the knock high marks in his books. “He didn’t rely solely on raw strength or one part of his gameplay. He could get down the wicket, sweep, reverse sweep, play off the back foot, cope with reverse swing, and handle everything else that comes with playing in this area of the world. The cramping, discomfort, weariness, and pressure moments when we lost clusters of wickets, I believe it had it all. “When you put it all together, it becomes even more special.”

India’s spinners have been so dominant at home that only a few knocks during the Ashwin-Jadeja era could surpass Pope’s for combining daring and application. It would have bolstered England’s trust in their strategy throughout the series and put a challenge to the opposition. The Test may still be in the balance at the end of the third day, but Pope has kept the hope of a Galle-esque encore alive.