England captain Ben Stokes said Tuesday he “absolutely loves” watching Rishabh Pant play cricket even when he’s on the receiving end of the India star’s outrageous stroke-play.
Pant became only the second wicketkeeper in Test history to score hundreds in both innings of a match against England at Headingley, although his heroics were unable to prevent a five-wicket defeat last week that left the hosts 1-0 up in a five-match contest.
Pant went on to produce an array of extraordinary strokes, including over the shoulder ramp shots off fast bowlers.
Stokes, well capable of aggressive batting himself, expects more fireworks from Pant, even if he hopes to limit the Indian’s runs after scores of 134 and 118.
“Even though he’s my opposition, I absolutely love watching Rishabh play cricket,” said Stokes during a press conference on the eve of the second Test at Edgbaston starting Wednesday.
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“Credit to him, two hundreds in the game, (but) we know we’re going to get our chances with the way Rishabh plays. On a different day, it could have looked a little bit different if one of those had gone straight to hand.
“He’s a very dangerous player. We know what he brings to the Indian team, but I really enjoy watching Rishabh play cricket.”
