'Who am I to argue' - Ian Bell reacts after Sachin Tendulkar compares Ollie Pope to him

The middle-order batsman Ollie Pope is being hailed as one of England’s rising stars for his performance in the ongoing Test series against West Indies. The cricketer has been garnering praises from all over the world for his impressive batting style and solid techniques. Though Pope failed to make a mark during the first two Test matches of the ongoing WI series, he amazed everyone by playing a brilliant knock of 91 runs in the first innings of the third Test.

His flamboyant batting skills and solid temperament left the legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar in awe. The Master Blaster praised the right-handed batsman for his excellent stance and footwork on Twitter. Also, Tendulkar compared Pope with the likes of former English veteran cricketer Ian Bell.

Ian Bell is one of the legends of the game as he played International cricket in all the three formats of the game for the England cricket team. In his international career of 11 years, Ian scored over 13,000 international runs across all the formats.

Sachin tweeted on Saturday, “Been watching the 3rd Test, @OPope32 seems to have modelled his batting on @Ian_Bell His stance and footwork looks exactly the same to me.”

Been watching the 3rd Test, @OPope32 seems to have modeled his batting on @Ian_Bell.
His stance and footwork looks exactly the same to me. #ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/sEvNKr1YFZ

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 24, 2020

Ian Bell replies to Sachin Tendulkar

On being compared to Ollie Pope by the Mumbai stalwart, Bell wrote on Twitter, “Who am I to argue with the great man, @sachin_rt! Hopefully, @OPope32 can kick on and score a big hundred today.”

Who am I to argue with the great man, @sachin_rt! 🙌
Hopefully @OPope32 can kick on and score a big hundred today! https://t.co/iWQmdgkpjS

— Ian Bell (@Ian_Bell) July 25, 2020

Though Pope batted brilliantly during the third and final Test match, he missed on a well-deserved century by just 9 runs as he was dismissed by Shannon Gabriel. Nonetheless, his knock along with the fifties from Rory Burns and Jos Buttler helped England in posting a total of 369 on the board.

The West Indies tour of England has been a delight to watch so far. The Caribbeans tasted victory against England in the first Test match in Southampton by 4 wickets while the hosts outshined the Caribbeans in the second Test in Manchester by 113 runs. The series decider is being played in Manchester right now with West Indies trailing England by 232 runs at the end of Day 2.