Picture Credit: Twitter
England pacer James Anderson was all in praise for India wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant for his aggressive play, irrespective of the situation of the match. In the ongoing first Test between the two countries at Trent Bridge, Pant came to bat after India lost four wickets in quick succession for just 15 runs. Despite that, the left-hander did not let the situation affect him and looked to play his strokes against the English bowlers.
In fact, in only his fourth ball he faced off Anderson, who was in the middle of a brilliant spell, having picked the wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli on two consecutive deliveries, Pant danced down the track and lofted the ball over the off-side field. Although he had to settle for a three, he made his intentions pretty clear that he would look to score of every possible opportunity. Anderson later said that the hosts had an idea about how Pant would approach his innings when he walked in to bat.
Keep bowling our best ball even when Pant's doing different things: Anderson
"We’ve got a taste of what he was planning to do. He used his feet on the third ball he faced today. We know the way he’s going to play. He’s aggressive, he’ll think outside the box. He might play the odd shot that’s out of the ordinary and we just have to accept that he’s a fantastic player, fantastic talent," Anderson was quoted as saying after the second day’s play.
“So, all we have got to do is concentrate on our areas as much as we can, keep bowling our best ball even when he’s doing different things to try and put us off. We’ve just got to hope he nicks one and that’s all we can do because, as I said, he’s a great player. We have nothing specific planned for him. If he keeps charging me then I’ll bowl my best ball, that’s all we can do,” he added.
The 39-year-old veteran speedster was yet again in great form on Day 2 as he scalped the wickets of the two Indian batters off successive deliveries. Both Pujara and Kohli nicked one to the wicketkeeper and Jos Buttler behind the wickets completed the job. Jimmy was miserly with the ball as well and only gave away 15 runs in his 13.4 overs at an economy rate of 1.10.