Former England captain Michael Vaughan has labelled Rishabh Pant‘s performance in the first innings of the second Test as “slightly negative”. Pant, who slammed centuries in both the innings in the first Test last week, scored 25 off 42 balls on Day 1 at Edgbaston, before being dismissed by Shoaib Bashir. Unlike the first Test, Pant adopted a slightly conservative approach, leaving Vaughan a bit surprised. Vaughan questioned why Pant didn’t try to score runs freely, considering that the conditions were ideal for batting.

“Rishabh was slightly underwhelming really, because he is such a brilliant player. I thought he played, can I use the word negative with Rishabh? I thought he was slightly negative. I was waiting for him to go, this is a flat wicket, and he was tapping back half volleys. It was a very unlike Rishabh Pant innings,” Vaughan told Cricbuzz.

Vaughan, on the other hand, praised India captain Shubman Gill who scored a fighting century on Day 1. Gill was unbeaten on 114, along with Ravindra Jadeja (41 not out), at the close of play on the opening day. Vaughan also backed Gill to score a double century if he manages to survive the first couple of hours on Day 2.

“He saw a good pitch and went, ‘You know what, I am just going to bat all day. As a batter in this team, this team needs my runs’. When they lost a couple, and when they lost a couple more, I thought they could get bowled out for 280 if they were not careful. He dug in for his team to make sure that they did not lose the game on Day 1. If he is there at 12 o’clock tomorrow, he will be thinking of a double century,” he added.

Vaughan also opened up on England captain Ben Stokes‘ decision to bowl first, saying that his call could backfire this time.

“England will be absolutely fine with Day 1, they will be fine with getting five wickets. There is just a little bit of the traditionalist in me thinking eventually bowling first when the sun is out and the pitch is flat, it may backfire one week, and it might be this week,” Vaughan pointed out.