England captain Ben Stokes lavished praise on India vice-captain Rishabh Pant ahead of the second Test of the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, which will start from July 2 at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Pant was the standout performer in the first Test, smashing a double ton against England.
After smashing the second ton, Pant became just the second wicket-keeper after Zimbabwe's Andy Flower to score two centuries in the same Test match, through his knocks of 134 and 118 in the thrilling Test match at Leeds that England won by five wickets.
“I absolutely love watching Rishabh play cricket. I love the way he takes it on. All formats of the game. He's got a bit of stick in his time, but when you let that type of talent be free, that's what can happen. It's one of those things where you look back on last week and give credit to him, 200 in the game.
“We know we're going to get our chances with the way that Rishabh plays. On a different day, it could have looked a little bit different if one of those had gone straight into someone’s hand, but a very dangerous player. We know what he brings to the Indian team, but I really enjoy watching Rishabh play cricket,” said Stokes in the pre-game press conference.
England are currently leading 1-0 in the five-Test match series against India and they have named Jofra Archer in their squad for the first time since 2021, but the side has chosen to retain their faith in the same playing eleven that won them the series opener over India at Headingley. He also missed England’s training session on Monday due to a family emergency and will rejoin the squad on Tuesday.
Stokes reflected on his return to the Test set-up and spoke on the impact he can have on the game.
"We all know that he is an incredibly gifted cricketer. We have seen that when he walks out onto the field for England, he's got that ball in his hands, the whole atmosphere of the game just changes, regardless of what situation he's in.
“Facing him in the Nets there, you've got the ball swinging quite nicely, just, you know, effortless pace. It's been a while since I've faced him, so there's a little bit of a wake-up call for me as well,” he added.
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.