The England camp was under serious pressure during Rishabh Pant’s presence at the crease in both innings at Headingley. The situation certainly looked a lot brighter for Team India when their keeper-batsman clobbered the English bowling attack to all corners for his back-to-back hundreds in the first Test.

However, the home team will put their heads together to discuss plans to negate
the Pant factor in the second Test at Edgbaston and get him out early.

“Rishabh’s a player who you don’t really know what’s coming next from him. He’s a player who keeps you on your toes as a bowler, which is sometimes exciting to bowl against,” England seamer all-rounder Chris Woakes said on Monday.

“But sometimes, he can put you on the back foot when you’re the bowler. He makes the game move forward. It’s exciting to be a part of the game when he’s at the crease.

“Obviously, at Headingley, he played really well, chanced his arm on a few occasions, and it came off. Hopefully, this week, we can get him a little bit earlier.

“I’m sure we’ll have some discussions around some of the (Indian) players that we came up against last week and how we can bowl at them a little bit better,” Woakes
pointed out.

Senior-most in this English bowling attack, the all-rounder’s performance with the ball in Leeds didn’t match the level of expectation. However, going into the Edgbaston Test, Woakes reposes faith in his ability to produce a better showing on his home ground.

“I feel like I’m close. I think I got better as the game went on, and the body was good, which is obviously a real bonus.

“I’ve played a lot of cricket here (Birmingham) over my time, and you generally know what the pitches are like and the conditions that you’re coming up with. At the same time, whenever you start on a new surface, you have to adapt to the conditions.

Hopefully, that experience I’ve had over the years here will hold me in good stead for this Test,” Woakes expressed.