Pope believes that the Ben Stokes’ led outfit has the ability to eclipse the current record, also held by England, but it came way back in 1936, when they slammed 588/6 on the second day of the Manchester Test against India.
Interestingly, he would talk about how it “took some time to get used to England’s attacking but once you get used to it, it becomes easier”. But his overall plan is to return to the “simple” basics, and not try to change too much.
The loss was only England’s third in 11 fourth-innings chases since the start of the Bazball era, and even if the target was a monumental one, their second innings score of 292 all out was still higher than the previous successful chase by a visiting team in India - West Indies’ 276 for 5 in Delhi in 1987-88.
