"The game is still quite in the balance, I believe. But I think Rishabh Pant and Washinton Sundar's partnership is huge... He certainly came out and looked to play shots bit more aggressively and it came off from him. When a guy strikes as well as he has been in this series, it is pretty daunting to have him come at 7 (6) and score the way he does," Patel said while replying to an ANI query during a virtual press conference on Friday.
Reverse sweeping James Anderson to pick a boundary on the second day of a Test match perfectly summed up Pant's (101) belligerent knock at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday. The swashbuckling wicket-keeper batsman single-handedly put India in command on the second day of the fourth Test against England with his third century in Test cricket.
With wickets tumbling around him, Pant took 82 balls to reach his first fifty runs. But the next 50 came off just 33 balls as he decided to send the English bowlers on a leather hunt. The second new ball turned to be a blessing in disguise for the batsman as the ball started coming onto the bat beautifully and Pant was more than happy to bring out the unorthodox shots from the kitty.
Patel said England players gave their 100 percent on the day and that's why they are a bit "annoyed" with how the things panned out. India were reduced to 146/6 but from there on, Pant and Sundar rebuilt the hosts' first innings.
"I think the players are very tired. The wicket started off really well and I think it started to flatten out in the middle session and by the end of the day, it started to go the other way. I think the guys put up a lot of efforts, probably 100 per cent of what they got. So, they are a bit tired and maybe a bit annoyed about how the afternoon went because we were in a good position," Patel said.
Ahmedabad (Gujarat), March 5
As Rishabh Pant brought his team back in the game with his enthralling century, England's spin bowling coach Jeetan Patel said it is pretty daunting to see the way the India wicket-keeper batsman scores.
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