Rishabh Pant, who was unbeaten on 65 at the close of play on Day 1, smashed his 7th Test century, overtaking MS Dhoni as India’s most decorated wicketkeeper-batter in terms of centuries scored in Test cricket. Rishabh Pant achieved the feat on Day 2 of the ongoing first Test against England in Leeds on Saturday. Former India captain Dhoni scored his sixth and final Test century in 2014. Rishabh Pant celebrated his century in a unique fashion, dishing out a somersault.
Anyone who was at Headingley on Saturday, be it English, Indian or neutral, would tell you why Test cricket needs the delightfully entertaining and daringly innovative Rishabh Pant. Centuries by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill on Day 1 were high art, they were exhibits of cricket correctness, the kind fans in these parts have appreciated for centuries.
Rishabh Pant’s historic 134 highlights Indian batting on Day 2
On Day 1, Rishabh Pant overtook Rohit Sharma to become India’s leading six-hitter in World Test Championship (WTC). Ahead of the match, Pant was tied with Rohit on 56 sixes each, despite playing six less games in that period. He hit two sixes on Day 1 two surpass Rohit and increase his tally. In the overall list, Rishabh Pant is only behind England captain Ben Stokes, who has smashed 83 sixes in 54 WTC fixtures.
On Day 1, Rishabh Pant had joined Gill after Jaiswal’s wicket, and he welcomed Stokes with a four on the second ball, a soothing sight after a colossal failure that was his 2025 IPL stint with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), except for a century against champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
During the course of his half-century, Pant overtook Dhoni to become Asia’s most successful wicketkeeper in SENA conditions and also brought up his 3,000 Test runs, becoming only the second after Dhoni to do so.
On Saturday at Headingley, day two of the first Test against England, Rishabh Pant brought up his seventh Test century, the most by an Indian wicketkeeper as he left Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind. It was his third hundred in as many tours of England – even dozens of specialist batters don’t boast that record – but it was also the slowest of his Test tons, in 146 deliveries.
You wouldn’t have guessed, much less suspected, that would be the case when he charged a flummoxed Ben Stokes two balls after the England captain had dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal on Friday evening and smashed him back over his head with utter disdain.Stokes is a maverick himself, but so captivated was he by the little fella hammering the living daylights out of him that he just couldn’t stop grinning.
This latest gem from Rishabh Pant was another indicator of how rapidly the 27-year-old is maturing without going against his natural grain. When he felt that was the need of the hour, he offered a dead defensive blade – his tightness and orthodoxy in defence is often lost in the magic of his unconventional, impish stroke-making – but when he committed himself to cutting loose, he did so without any indication of hesitancy.
Sixty-four percent of his 100 (10×4, 4×6) came off boundaries even though he got to three-figures slower than both Yashasvi Jaiswal (144 balls) and Gill (140). He then took just 32 balls for his next 34 runs before, ironically, being dismissed not offering a stroke for the first time in 71 Test innings. Pretty much sums up the Rishabh Pant persona.
Most Test centuries by designated WKs (India)
7* Rishabh Pant
6 MS Dhoni
3 Wriddhiman Saha
For the left-hander coming off an ordinary season with Lucknow Super Giants that he only marginally salvaged with a hundred in the final game of a disappointing campaign, this fourth ton against England will be especially satisfying because it came in his first outing as the Test vice-captain. Apart from KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, no one else in the top seven has played more five-day matches for the country.
Rishabh Pant has occupied the No. 5 position for a fair while now, the surest indication that successive team managements have stopped viewing him as a unidimensional ball-basher and have encouraged him to think and play like the wonderful batter that he is without being shackled by the need to rein in his instincts entirely.
It wasn’t mere coincidence that his dismissal on Saturday came after a presumed message to play out time with lunch five minutes away. Why would you tell him that. After all, didn’t he charge Chris Woakes, operating with the new ball, in Friday’s last over and deposit him over square-leg for six
This eyecatching century deserved a special praise all over and Former Indian batter now commentator Sanjay Manjrekar garnered several laurels on this flambyount left handed maverick.
Sanjay Manjrekar applauds Rishabh Pant’s historic 134 vs England at Leeds
Sanjay Manjrekar has made a fairly divisive call and went on to back Rishabh Pant as the best wicketkeeper-batter in Test cricket, even going above MS Dhoni, following his century against England in Leeds on Saturday, June 21. The former cricketer, when asked about his views on India’s best gloveman in the longest format, pointed out the stark contrast in both their performances away from home.
“Again, I am a believer in where you got your hundreds, and I’m a big sort of, I always look at hundreds. OK, where have we got it? He’s got hundreds in England. He’s got 100 in South Africa. He’s got a couple of hundreds in Australia,” Manjrekar said on JioHotstar.
When playing Tests away from home, MS Dhoni has a total of 2496 runs in the 48 matches at an average of 32.84 with 18 fifties and just one century in Pakistan. Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant has already hit 1976 runs in the 30 games played with an average of 39.52, with six fifties and five centuries as well.
The numbers clearly show that Rishabh Pant has been better, at least when it comes to scoring the big runs and already looks on track to surpass Dhoni’s record away from home. Manjrekar reckons that Dhoni’s best knocks have come in slightly lesser challenging conditions.
Following the end of India’s first innings, Manjrekar again went on to emphasise how Pant was indeed India’s best keeper-batter. He even referenced how Rishabh Pant has gotten out in the nineties quite a few times. The wicketkeeper batter has been dismissed seven times in the nineties in Test cricket.
“By far, India’s greatest ever Test batter-keeper. I was worried when he was in the 90s that he might end up getting his 8th 90 of his career. It is just unbelievable that he has so many 90s! But he’s a breath of fresh air,” he added.
Manjrekar was also appreciative of the crowds in England who have a taste for good competitive cricket. While they are supportive of their team, they’re also appreciative of good performances, whether it is from their team or the opponents.
“When he got out and raised his bat, there were a lot of English supporters who stood up and applauded that innings. That’s what we love about England — these guys come to watch good cricket. They want their team to win, but when they see excellence from the opposition, you can see true appreciation for it,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant’s innings of 134 ensured India put up a commanding first-innings total of 471 runs on the board. Now, he will be in focus as a vice-captain, where he will look to play his part and support the Indian captain in ensuring that the bowling unit can wrap up the English batters soon.
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