Rishabh Pant opened his bat in the test match against Bangladesh and returned to form and equaled the record: Returning to Test cricket for the first time since December 2022, Rishabh Pant scored his sixth Test century to mark his presence as India’s No. 1 wicketkeeper.
Making his comeback even more special, Rishabh Pant equalled the record for most Test centuries by Indian wicketkeepers with his sixth Test century.
Pant equalled MS Dhoni’s record of six Test centuries at Chepauk, where he shared a 167-run stand with Shubman Gill. While Dhoni’s six centuries came in 144 innings, Pant achieved the feat in just 58 innings.
Apart from this, Pant has also scored six other scores in the 90s in Test cricket, taking his average to nearly 45 in 34 Tests.
This is Pant’s second Test century on home ground, his first coming against England in Ahmedabad in 2021. The wicketkeeper-batsman has also scored Test centuries in Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia.
Since his debut, Pant has scored the most hundreds by any wicketkeeper in Test cricket. Liton Das, who has three centuries to his name, is second.
During his absence from cricket after a horrific accident in 2022, India tried four different wicketkeepers, of whom only Dhruv Jurel could perform well.
But Pant made such a big impact in the format that he returned straight to the team and immediately justified the decision to pick him over Jurel.
This century is also his first since returning to international cricket, the last one coming more than two years ago.
Ahead of the tour of Australia later this year, Pant’s brilliant innings will go a long way in giving India the confidence that their wicketkeeping problem has been solved.
Centuries from Pant and Shubman Gill in the Chennai Test helped India set a target of 515 runs in front of Bangladesh, putting India in a strong position.
Bangladesh were 158 for 4 on day three with Ravichandran Ashwin taking three wickets after scoring a hundred in the first innings.
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Source: ICC
