'Let the boy play...': Ex-England star sends clear message to Gautam Gambhir about Rishabh Pant following the 27-year-old's heroics at Headingley

Rishabh Pant was among the star performers for India in both of their innings of the Headingley Test. The wicketkeeper-batter scored tons in both of India's innings as the visitors managed to put up a target of 371 for the hosts on Day 4. With the twin tons, the 27-year-old etched his name into history books and became the first-ever wicketkeeper-batter from India to achieve this feat and only the second wicketkeeper-batter to do so after former Zimbabwe cricketer Andy Flower.

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In the first innings, Pant played a fantastic knock of 134 and was crucial to the Men in Blue posting a formidable total of 471 and followed that up with another sensational knock of 118 in the second innings. In the process, he also became the Indian wicketkeeper-batter with the most hundreds in red-ball cricket.

Following Pant's superb batting display, former England cricketer Steve Harmison advised India head coach Gautam Gambhir to not get into Pant's head and let him play exactly like he wants to.

Harmison highlighted Pant's records

"Pant is third now on the all-time list of six-hitters for India. The top two are Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma. The number one hit me for quite a few. But it was the control and then the utterly random madness of his attacks, and then he'd go back into his shell, hit a couple more sixes, and go back into his shell. Yeah, we said yesterday it's about that voice in his ear," Harmison said on TalkSport Cricket.

"There's a voice in his ear, and I think some people in coaching might say, ‘Right, I need to get into his head and try to make him think this way or bat that way.’ If you're a coach of India and you're a coach of Rishabh Pant, I'd be terrified to try to get into his head. I mean, let the boy play, let him go," he added.

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Following his century in the first innings, Pant unleashed his signature somersault celebration, but didn't do it again when he reached his hundred on the second occasion. Instead, he decided to do the celebration made famous by England footballer Dele Alli.

Pant now has eight centuries under his belt in the longest format alongwith a blistering average of 44.44. Interestingly, only two out of his eight hundreds have come on home soil while the rest have come in overseas conditions. The 27-year-old has already scored five tons against the Three Lions and will be looking to increase his tally as the series progresses.