The comeback of Rishabh Pant, the upcoming all-format star for the Indian team, in the longest form of the game, was celebrated excellently as the left-handed batter smashed Bangladesh for a comeback century on the second innings of the opening Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Rishabh Pant was taking part in his first Test match nearly 18 months, since facing the same opponent in the away series. There was no such pressure or butterflies in the stomach of the rockstar, who also displayed incredible skills in his wicket-keeping during the contest.
That was a sigh of relief for the Rohit Sharma-led side, having got the plan of the squad for the upcoming five-match Test series in Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The way he recovered from the unfortunate fatal accident and then made a speedy recovery for the game to return to the Indian Premier League (IPL) was nothing short of a miracle.
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The wicket-keeper batter was part of the winning Indian side during the recent T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the United States of America, but the biggest anticipation was of the return of Rishabh Pant in Tests.
Rishabh Pant writes new record with fastest Indian wicket-keeper to reach 2500 Test runs
The first innings of the opening Test of the three-match series against New Zealand in Bengaluru wasn’t a positive one for none of the home batters, as the entire team was bundled out for just 46 runs, their third-lowest innings total in the five-day format of the game.
The left-handed batter was the highest run-getter of the innings with 20 runs, shouldering on two boundaries. In the bowling innings of the Indian side, a delivery from Ravindra Jadeja spun too much and hit the knee of Rishabh Pant, which ruled him out of the remainder of India’s bowling innings.
The home side lost Virat Kohli in the eleventh hour of the third day’s play. At the start of the new day, everyone wondered if the wicket-keeper batter was fit enough to bat in the second innings. But he came out at the start of the fourth day’s play and put up an unbeaten stand of 113 runs for the fourth wicket with Sarfaraz Khan before the rain made the interruption.
Rishabh Pant smashed an undefeated 53 runs in 56 deliveries, shouldering on five boundaries and three sixes at a strike rate of nearly 100. Whenever the ball has been on his hitting area, he hasn’t been scared to use his feat to smash the bowler out of the boundary.
He scripted history by becoming the fastest Indian wicket-keeper batter to reach 2500 Test runs. The veteran achieved the milestone in just 62 innings, going past the former captain of the side, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who held the record in 69 innings, and Farokh Engineer, who achieved the feat in 82 innings.
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Rishabh Pant now has celebrated his 12th Test fifty, which has been his 18th score over 50, joining him with Engineer, keeping him behind Dhoni only. The 27-year-old has smashed 2432 runs in 35 games at an average over 44, coming into the game.
When the sky opened up, India was trailing by 12 runs, but they will hope 150 to 200 more runs to keep a chance of winning the Test match. But, it will be up to these two batters and then KL Rahul and two all-rounders to follow.