“I was bored by Rishabh Pant’s batting and asked him to try something outrageous. He reverse swept Anderson”

Even the greats of red-ball cricket refrain from donning an unorthodox brand of cricket against James Anderson, and then there is Rishabh Pant, who has reverse swept him twice now.

Pant showed his class and steered a sinking Indian ship to the shore on the first day of the one-off Test. He once again played the brand of cricket he is associated with.

James Anderson picked three wickets in the innings so far, but Pant had no mercy on the English legend each time he came running towards the 24-year-old.

One of the highlights of his innings was him fearlessly reverse sweeping Anderson to steal a couple of runs. His shot reminded fans of a similar instance that occurred during England’s visit to India in early 2021.

Pant, back then, played a similar shot against Anderson on home soil. His audacity to play such a shot against Anderson was appreciated by the fans and also by then Head Coach Ravi Shastri.

Former Head Coach Ravi Shastri during commentary revealed the pep talk he gave to Pant to try something outrageous, and the next thing he did was reverse sweep Anderson.

He said, “Last year I was talking to Pant and I told him I am getting bored seeing you throwing it away in the same fashion every time. Aren’t you bored as well? So why don’t you try something different, something more outrageous… like a reverse sweep maybe? And I saw his eyes light up. It’s very important to back a player’s ability.”

Shastri’s words made an immediate impact on Pant’s approach and the 24-year-old added a reverse sweep to his kitty. He added, “He reverse swept Jack Leach a couple of times. In the next Test, he did that against Anderson. Took a step ahead by reverse sweeping Jofra Archer, one of their fastest bowlers in the limited-overs series.”