'We can get him a little bit earlier...': Chris Woakes reveals England's plans to dismiss Rishabh Pant in 2nd Test of Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025

England speedster Chris Woakes revealed that the hosts will have discussions around negating the threat posed by India vice-captain Rishabh Pant and some other players in the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, which is scheduled to take place at Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham.

In the series opener at Headingley, while Indian bowlers failed to perform, batters to centre stage to dominate England. India had five centuries in the five-wicket defeat in Leeds, featuring Yashasvi Jaiswal (101), Shubman Gill (147), KL Rahul (137) and Pant (134 and 118).

As both teams are currently preparing for the second Test match, Woakes recalled Rishabh Pant's batting in the first Test and expressed the excitement that comes while bowling against the explosive Pant, who is capable of putting the opposition bowlers on the back foot.

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"Rishabh's a player who you don't really know what's coming next. He's a player who keeps you on your toes as a bowler, which is sometimes exciting to bowl against. But sometimes, he can put you on the back foot as a bowler. He makes the game move forward. It's exciting to be a part of the game when he's at the crease," Woakes told reporters in a press conference on Monday.

With Pant is all set to feature in the second Test at Edgbaston, Woakes is hopeful that England will pick the southpaw's wicket early, along with other Indian stars, whom he refrained from mentioning.

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"But look, he scored two hundreds, obviously up at Headingley, he played really well, chanced his arm on a few occasions and came off. Hopefully, this week, we can get him a little bit earlier. I think we haven't really met up yet, but I'm sure we'll have some discussions around some of the players that we came up against last week and how we can bowl at them a little bit better," he added.

England have already announced their playing XI for the second Test. Jofra Archer benced as the Ben Stokes-led side will feature with the same playing XI.

England playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.