‘You never know what’s coming next’ – Chris Woakes on bowling to Rishabh Pant

England pacer Chris Woakes revealed that the team has specific plans in place to tackle India’s wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who scored twin centuries in the first Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Woakes had an underwhelming performance in the first Test at Headingley, Leeds, managing to pick up only one wicket in the match.

Woakes admitted that the Indian batter adds excitement to the format with his aggressive style of play while reacting to Pant’s heroics. He also mentioned that England are likely to hold a meeting to discuss detailed strategies to counter the left-hander in the upcoming Tests.

“Rishabh is a player with whom you do not really know what is coming next. He’s a player that keeps you on your toes, sometimes exciting to bowl against, sometimes he puts you on the back foot as a bowler,” Woakes said in the pre-match press conference on Monday, June 30.

“It is always exciting to be part of the game when he is at the crease. He scored two hundreds in Headingley. Hopefully, we will get him earlier in this one. We (bowling group) have not met up yet but there will certainly be discussions around some of the players we came up against last week,” he added.

England have announced their playing XI for the second Test of the series at Edgbaston. Although Jofra Archer was added to the squad after the conclusion of the opening Test, he has not been included in the final XI for the Birmingham match. The second Test is set to begin on Wednesday, July 2.

England playing XI for second Test at Edgbaston

Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir