'Rishabh Pant talks a lot about his batting, just not while batting'

Minutes before the Lunch break on the fourth day of the Headingley Test, Rishabh Pant, batting on a century, lost his shoe while setting off for a run. As he was putting it back on, Washington Sundar ran out with a bottle of water. And perhaps a message too. Swinging freely until then, Pant appeared to suddenly play for the break. It is unknown if it was a response to the message he'd received but as it turned out, he was dismissed LBW by Josh Tongue shortly after, triggering another collapse.

It's in line with a story from the Sydney Test of 2021 when Cheteshwar Pujara asked Pant to become a little circumspect only for the latter to be dismissed soon after for 97. India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak clarified ahead of the Lord's Test how Pant didn't like being spoken to while batting but otherwise, is someone who likes talking a lot about batting and his methods.

"Rishabh actually talks a lot about what he does, when he does [it], why he does [it]," Kotak said. "To me, he's spoken, but he's someone who doesn't like talking too much during his innings because he feels that that changes his mindset, and he takes the wrong decision. That's only when he's batting.

"Apart from that, he talks about other batters also, about himself also, and he does [plan] what he wants to do because it's not so easy to score Test hundreds or not so easy to be successful at this level without having any planning."

Kotak said players with an attacking predisposition like Pant or even Yashasvi Jaiswal bring a dash of variety to India's batting order, which otherwise is comfortable not chasing after boundaries as their opposition England might do. This lends the team a ruthless, nuggety edge as seen at Edgbaston where they tallied over 1000 runs over the two innings. "If a batter thinks there is a lot of movement in the pitch, and if there is an opportunity I have to score boundaries because there is a good ball coming [with my name on it], that is a bad mindset for red-ball cricket," Kotak said.

"Anyway, they possess so much skill because of white-ball cricket that they can convert anything in the slot into fours and sixes. They don't have to really think that I want to hit a boundary.

"We have batted well in both the matches," Kotak said. "I feel we have such skillful batters [who] can score at four an over without going searching for runs. What else is aggressive batting? We are scoring 360 in 90 overs. But our mindset now is to not go looking for boundaries. [And] when you don't play undue shots, then you are going to stay on the wicket for a long time," Kotak added.

More assistance for seamers at Lord's?

After the defeat at Edgbaston on a pitch that Ben Stokes said felt like the one in the Subcontinent - an assertion Kotak denied - there is an expectation that England will hope to play on a pitch with a little more assistance for their seamers. The pitch too wore a greenish tinge two days out from the start of the Test but it could still change in 48 hours. "It seems a little bit in the wicket... that there is a lot of green. But tomorrow when these people will do the final cut, after that you can speak," Kotak said.

"Generally, the normal Lord's Test, the scores of the first and second innings, are comparatively low. So you can expect that there can be more help for the bowlers. For the batsmen, the same thing, I believe that it is a mindset. Spending time on the wicket is the best friend you can have. The more time you spend on the wicket, the more you will adjust to the wicket.

"It will be a challenge, Jofra coming in. There might be a couple of bowling changes in the England team, but that we don't know. And after the last two games, if as a whole, England want to give a little bit more challenging wicket, it is fair enough. And it will be a challenge for anyone on any wicket. So I am not really thinking that, oh, it will be very challenging. You bat well, it is fine. If you don't bat well, any wicket can be challenging," Kotak said.