Follow UsAt 64/3, Rishabh Pant walked out to a rather hostile English bowling unit, who were getting the ball to swing and seam around with ease. While many batters would have adopted a see off first, hit later approach, Pant went all guns blazing. The left-handed notched up the fastest Test century by an Indian wicket-keeper and eventually exited the stage, having scored 146 off 111 balls.
England’s assistant coach, Paul Collingwood praised the left-hander on the back of his innings, stating that Pant came out to play a bit of “Bazball”. Collingwood also insisted that the Indian wicketkeeper took the game away from the hosts.
"Pant came out to play a bit of Bazball, as everyone keeps calling it," said Paul Collingwood, England's assistant coach.
“We're going against the grain of much of the cricket's been played over the last 100 years, but Pant came out and played a blinder. You've got to give him full credit,” he added.
However, the former English batter backed the Three Lions, stating that new skipper, Ben Stokes won’t take a backward step despite conceding over 300 in the first innings.
"When you have a bit of moisture in the pitch early on, you have a chance to take early wickets, which is what we did. We are trying to play as positive as possible and play entertaining cricket. Ben's not going to take a backward step."
"I don't feel our backs were against the wall for too long, but hats off to the way Pant played. When you're up against world-class players, they can do world-class things," Collingwood was quoted as saying by the media here after the first day's play.
"We're not scared of what we need to chase in the fourth innings. The way we played in the three games against New Zealand showed we're not overawed by what the opposition are going to get in the first innings."
England chased down fourth-innings totals in excess of 250 on three occasions in their 3-0 series win over New Zealand. England are seen to have embraced an aggressive brand of cricket under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, which led to New Zealand being swept aside.
"We're not playing conventional Test cricket. We're trying to be as attacking as possible and looking to take wickets with the field placings," said Collingwood, who played 68 Tests for England.
"We're not always trying to stem the flow and keep the run-rate down. We want to be on the more aggressive side of the line. We can be happy with this day's work and getting them for anything under 360-370 would be a good result for us."
He said the manner of the three wins over the Blackcaps -- England batted second on all three occasions -- had an influence in Stokes' decision to field first against India.
(With inputs from PTI)