bright India Wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant scored his fifth Test century on the first day of the series-deciding against England at Edgbaston. Pant retaliated and put the England bowlers on the back foot by playing an innings of 146 runs. He scored the third-fastest century for India outside Asia as he lost early wickets in 89 balls to bring India back into the game.
The southpaw’s ‘Pantastic’ innings had 20 fours and 4 sixes. He got a lot of support from Ravindra Jadeja from the other end as both the southpaw shared a 222-run partnership, which is also India’s highest for the sixth wicket against England.
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Fastest Test century for India outside Asia
78 balls – Virender Sehwag vs West Indies at Gros Islet in 2006
88 balls – Mohammad Azharuddin vs England at Lord’s in 1990
89 balls – Rishabh Pant vs England at Edgbaston in 2022
He also broke MS Dhoni’s record for the fastest century by an Indian wicketkeeper in Tests. Dhoni scored a century in 93 balls against Pakistan in 2006.
Pant also became the fourth Indian wicketkeeper to score two centuries in a calendar year, interestingly enough that the 24-year-old is the only player on the list to hit him on foreign soil. Earlier this year, he scored a century against South Africa in Cape Town.
Two Test Centuries by an Indian Wicketkeeper in a Calendar Year
Budhi Kundaran in 1964
MS Dhoni in 2009
Wriddhiman Saha in 2017
Rishabh Pant in 2022
He also became the first visiting wicket-keeper batsman to score two centuries in southeast England. He scored his maiden century on England soil in the fifth Test of the 2018 tour.
He also completed 2000 runs in Test cricket during his counter attack innings.
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Pant decided to bat with an aggressive approach after seeing his teammates running back towards the pavilion. He started looking for boundaries in almost every over. A re-introduction from Jack Leach in the 37th over brought more runs for India as Pant stepped up to drive him for a boundary through long-off. On the very next ball, Leach cut it short and Pant waved it back to pull another boundary.
The southpaw picked up the pace from there and started handling the English bowlers, who were upset after hitting the hammer.
In the end, he was dismissed by Joe Root while trying to hit him for a big shot to reach his 150, but slipped the ball to the side where Jack Crawley took a fine catch.
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