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In the morning session on Day 1 of the fifth and final Test match, the Indian wicket-keeper Dhruv Jurel successfully predicted the dismissal of English batter Ollie Pope. The 23-year-old was heard saying, “Yeh badhega aage, badhega aage (He will step out, step out),” and on the next Kuldeep Yadav delivery, Ollie Pope did leave his crease before getting stumped.
For the unversed, the England captain, Ben Stokes, won the toss and decided to bowl first on a decent pitch at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium in Dharamshala. His decision proved correct with the openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett stitching together yet another 50-plus stand at the top of the order.
After Kuldeep Yadav got the better of Ben Duckett to pick up the first wicket of India in the fifth and final Test, he tested the batting technique of Ollie Pope during his short stay. Just minutes before the lunch break, Dhruv Jurel was heard on the stump mic, telling Kuldeep Yadav how the right-handed batter would step out of the crease the next ball.
The left-arm unorthodox spinner did shorten the length on his next delivery, which was a googly. As Dhruv Jurel anticipated, Ollie Pope did dance down the track, finding himself in no man’s land before the Indian wicket-keeper stumped him.
The wicket brought about wild celebrations from the Indian players before they headed back into the pavilion for the lunch break. The wicket of Ollie Pope meant that England were 100/2 in 25.3 overs, with Zak Crawley not out on 61 off 71, holding the fort for the visitors.
Here is the dismissal of Ollie Pope off the bowling of Kuldeep Yadav:
