Come the hour, cometh the man. Rishabh Pant played a knock which will be remembered for a lifetime scoring 146 to put India in a strong position after a poor start in Edgbaston Test.
Team India’s Rishabh Pant is now the youngest wicketkeeper-batter in the history of Test cricket to reach the landmark of 2,000 runs. Pant, 24, reached this landmark during the fifth and final Test against England at Edgbaston on Friday. A four through the mid-wicket area in the 51st over bowled by pacer Matty Potts helped the star Indian keeper-batter reach the landmark.
Notably, Pant went on to smash 89-ball century in the ongoing fifth Test against England. With this century, the southpaw not just rescued Team India after a top-order collapse but also became the first Indian wicket-keeper batsman to score two tons on English soil.
Pant also broke the record for the fastest century by an Indian wicket-keeper batsman in England. He now holds the record for the third-fastest century by an Indian outside Asia.
Fastest Test 100s for India outside Asia
- 78 balls V Sehwag v WI Gros Islet 2006
- 88 balls M Azharuddin v Eng Lord’s 1990
- 89 balls R PANT v Eng Edgbaston 2022
Pant also became the only Indian wicketkeeper-batsman to score two overseas hundred in a calendar year. Earlier, W Saha, MS Dhoni and Budhi Kunderan had achieved this feat. With this century Pant completed his fourth hundred overseas in just 23 matches while all the other Indian wicket-keepers had scored four in 260 Tests.
Two Test 100s in a calendar year by an Indian WK
- Budhi Kunderan in 1964
- MS Dhoni in 2009
- W Saha in 2017
- Rishabh Pant in 2022 *
Centuries by Indian keepers in overseas Tests
- 4 – Rishabh Pant (23 matches)
- 4 – All other combined (260 matches)
Pant, along with Ravindra Jadeja, took India’s total beyond the 300-run mark. The swashbuckling left-handed batter was finally dismissed for 146 off 111 balls smashing 19 boundaries and four sixes. He, along with Jadeja, took the Indian team from 98/5 to 320/6 after being caught in the first slip by Zak Crawley off Joe Root’s bowling.
When Twitter went abuzz post the @RishabhPant17 blitz #TeamIndia | #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/RCuVwRmy34 — BCCI (@BCCI) July 1, 2022
Pant-Jadeja put on a record 222-run partnership for the sixth wicket which is India’s highest-ever partnership against England surpassing the 204-run Pant-KL Rahul partnership at the Oval in London. In this match too, the southpaw scored a ton which was his first Test century scoring 114. Jadeja remained unbeaten at 83 at the end of the day’s play with Mohammed Shami batting at the other end. India were in a strong position at 338/7 at stumps on Day 1.
