Paul Collingwood: England's batsmen should be excited about batting on that wicket

SAM MORSHEAD AT EDGBASTON: India will look to build a total of 400-plus on Saturday, and Collingwood - the England assistant coach - believes the home side have an opportunity to cash in when it is their turn to get out in the middle

Paul Collingwood says England's batsmen should be champing at the bit to have a go on this Edgbaston wicket after watching Rishabh Pant produce a sizzling century on day one in Birmingham.

Pant's flashbang 146 was the centrepiece of a riveting day of Test cricket, as India recovered from 98 for 5 to reach stumps on 338 for 7, and England struggled to get movement out of the pitch in the second half of the day's play.

Ravindra Jadeja will resume on Saturday 83 not out, as India look to build a total of 400-plus, and Collingwood - the England assistant coach - believes the home side have an opportunity to cash in when it is their turn to get out in the middle.

"That's a really good wicket out there, the batsmen should be excited about batting on that wicket," he said. "When you play against world-class players they can do world-class things and today he [Pant] had his day.

"There was some world-class bowling there this morning and we put the Indians under a lot of pressure. We are always looking to take wickets, we are always having attacking fields, but his counter-attack was brilliant to watch.

^{Rishabh Pant scored a century for India [Stu Forster/Getty Images]}

"Anything under 360 or 370 would be a good result for us in the first innings."

James Anderson claimed three early scalps and Matt Potts two as England made the most of the early conditions after winning the toss, but as the ball got softer and pitch calmed down beyond the 30-over mark, chances were few and far between.

That led to Pant moving through the gears to reach an 89-ball century - the fastest by an Indian wicketkeeper in Tests - as England continued to employ aggressive field placements.

Collingwood said that tactic was simply an extension of the 'Bazball' mindset which resulted in a whitewash of New Zealand last month.

"You can see in the way we're playing, there's been a huge change in mentality. That's not just the way we are batting in terms of putting opposition bowlers under pressure and trying to get our strike rates up. When we're bowling we're always looking to take wickets that's a simple fact," he said.

"You can see the amount of slips we had in for the majority of the day. There were times when Pant got going that we could have been a little more smart, trying to keep him off strike, which is a one-day mentality. These tactics are going to come in to our play over time."

^{James Anderson made some early inroads with the ball [Stu Forster/Getty Images]}

England often get a member of the coaching staff to front up to the media on days where performance levels have not been above par, but there was little question of the hosts' application and endeavour on day one - albeit some of their bowling and fielding went awry in the evening session.

Collingwood too did not feel that England's "backs were against the wall for too long", and he is confident that the hosts are still well within reach of India, as they try to tie this series at 2-2.

"The way we played the three games against New Zealand, we're not overawed by what the opposition are going to get in the first innings, and we're not scared of what we need to chase in the fourth innings," he said.

"We've been pretty successful in those three games. We're not playing conventional Test-match cricket, we're trying to be as attacking as possible, we're trying to take wickets.

"We're not always trying to stem the flow of runs, keep the run rate down, all that kind of stuff. We want to be on the more aggressive side of the line, and if we feel we can get early wickets and have a bit of moisture of the pitch, in the context of the overall game you might get ahead of the game."

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