Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant slammed twin centuries in the first Test match against England at Headingley, Leeds.

The southpaw followed up his brilliant 134 in the first innings with an entertaining 118 in the second essay. As a result, he became only the second wicketkeeper in history to score a century in both innings of a Test match, joining Zimbabwe legend Andy Flower in an elite list.

Pant continued his impressive form in the second Test at Edgbaston, returning with scores of 25 and 65 as India registered a series-levelling 336-run victory in the five-match rubber.

Ahead of the third Test at Lord’s, India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak heaped praise on Rishabh Pant, hailing him among the aggressive cricketers who are good at breaking opposition’s momentum.

Kotak further said it is wrong to think that the explosive left-hander plays shots without thinking, while admitting when the plan doesn’t come off, his dismissals look bad.

“Every team will have some aggressive players who are very good at breaking opposition’s momentum. So someone like Jaiswal who plays the way he plays. Someone like Rishabh," Kotak said while speaking to the media ahead of the Lord’s Test.

“But that does not mean that he doesn’t think. He does think, he does take decisions and when it goes wrong, it looks bad. Rishabh actually talks a lot about what he does with bat," Kotak added.

The batting coach expects the pitch for the Lord’s Test to throw much more challenge as compared to the flat surfaces of first two matches but as long as his batters don’t play undue shots, it shouldn’t be an issue.

“There is a little green in the wicket, which we saw in the last two matches, it is more than that. But tomorrow, the last cutting they do the day before the match, after that we can talk," Kotak stated.

“And generally at Lord’s… The scores of the first and second innings are comparatively low. So, we can expect that it will be helpful for bowlers. For the batters, the same thing, I believe, is the mindset," he remarked.

The Lord’s dishes out a unique challenge for the batters and the bowlers because of the slope.

“It depends on the mindset. I have seen some players saying that they don’t understand the slope," Kotak said.

“And some players feel that there are natural variations. Obviously, because of the slope, there will be some variations. But, after hitting the seam, there are some variations," Kotak added.