Pant changed his batting style and made history: Coach said – “Earlier he used to be aggressive on every ball, now he played defensively and left the balls going outside off.”

India's vice-captain Rishabh Pant scored a century in the second innings of the Headingley Test against England as well. He became the first Indian wicketkeeper-batsman to score centuries in both innings of a Test match.

Pant scored 134 runs in the first innings and 118 in the second. These runs didn’t come easily—his hard work and changes in batting style played a major role. Devendra Sharma, Pant’s coach at Sonnet Club, told Dainik Bhaskar that Pant worked on his defense and drives.

Worked on patience and shot selection
Devendra Sharma told Dainik Bhaskar that Pant was struggling to score runs in Australia and later in the IPL. He was quite disappointed and facing criticism. Pant spoke to him, and together they reviewed his performance and identified areas that needed improvement.

The first decision was that in Tests, Pant needed to play with more patience and work on his shot selection. He had to start leaving balls outside off and show respect to good deliveries. For this, Pant practiced daily for 2.5 to 3 hours and also prepared himself mentally.

You might have noticed that from the very first innings in England, Pant played contrary to his natural style. He was in a defensive mode from the beginning. Earlier, he would go aggressive on every ball, but now he has learned to be patient and has become more cautious with his shot selection.

It’s not that Pant has given up his aggressive style, but he has started respecting good balls and playing shots only on loose deliveries. He has worked well on his defense and drives. That’s the reason he succeeded in scoring centuries in both innings.