Rishabh Pant has emerged as one of India’s most important players in Test cricket in a relatively short time.
The southpaw from Delhi is not only infamous for his unorthodox batting style, but for his handy work behind the stumps as well. He returned to the national side for the India vs South Africa Test series after recovering from an injury that he sustained in England earlier this year.
Pant is nearing his 50th Test match, a big milestone, and his stats already show how much of an impact he has had on the game for India.
Rishabh Pant’s Impact In Test Cricket
In 47 Test matches, Rishabh Pant has scored 3,427 runs, which include 8 centuries and 18 half centuries. In a format where run-scoring is generally slow, the Indian vice captain has hit 369 fours and 90 sixes.
This is the second-most number of sixes hit by an Indian batsman in Test cricket, only behind Virender Sehwag’s 91 sixes in the format.
Furthermore, Pant has hit the most centuries by an Indian wicket keeper in Test, surpassing even the great MS Dhoni. Interestingly, he also has the best average (44.5) by a wicket keeper for the country thus far. Note that this stat is for players with at least 10 innings.
When it comes to his job behind the stumps, India’s current vice captain has the joint-most dismissals in a single Test match (11), which came against Australia in 2018.
Pant’s Best Score In Tests
Rishabh Pant’s highest score in Test cricket is an unbeaten 159, which came against Australia in Sydney, all the way back in 2019.
He hit 15 fours, but just one six in this outing, which saw India’s score hit 622 in the first innings.
This was his first tour of Australia, a place with challenging conditions for touring batsmen, and although this particular match ended up drawing, Pant had signalled his potential quite well with this inning.
