England's assistant coach Paul Collingwood heaped praise on Rishabh Pant for his mind-blowing innings on the opening day of the ongoing rescheduled fifth and final Test at Edgbaston.
Team India had a poor start, but the young left-hander took charge of the side and went on to play a stunning knock of 146 runs off 111 deliveries to take them to 338/7 from 98/5 against England.
Collingwood said in his press conference: “Today was a great day, 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. It's been another exciting day of Test cricket, we've had three exciting games against New Zealand and the first day here has been exactly the same.”
However, England’s assistant coach has stressed that the hosts are not intimidated by India's fightback in the ongoing rescheduled Test while saying the Edgbaston wicket turned in favor of batters after 30-40 overs and the bowlers found it tough to take wickets in the later sessions.
Collingwood further said, “Brendon McCullum has said from the very start he's looking at the bigger picture of Test cricket and for it to survive we've got to make it a lot more entertaining. Today was exactly that - there were wickets and runs, great catches and when you watch someone as exciting as Pant, you've got to applaud.”
He concluded, “I wouldn't necessarily say we went wrong today, but what we've found is once the ball goes soft after 30-40 overs it can be very difficult to take wickets if it's not going off straight.”
(With PTI Inputs)
