Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Rajendra Pant is an Indian cricketer who represents the country in international cricket. On the domestic level, Pant plays first class cricket for Delhi. He also plays for the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League and currently captains the side. Pant has stepped up as the best wicket-keeper batsman for India in recent years since the retirement of Dhoni performing well across all three formats. His heroics in the 2021 Border-Gavaskar Trophy won the championship for India.

Rishabh is one of India's best Wicket Keeper-Batsman, and features regularly in the Indian cricket team in Dhoni's absence, especially in Tests, from which the ex-captain has retired. Pant is very popular for his aggressive batting style and his fearless approach to situations. Rishabh was the first Indian batsman to get off the mark on his Test debut with a six. Rishabh is one of the finest young talents which India has to offer to world cricket, progressing forward year after year with consistent performances for India.

Rishabh Pant - Along the years

Rishabh Pant Records

1. Second youngest player for India to debut in a T20I match.
2. First batsman for India to begin his career in Test cricket with a six
3. Fastest wicket-keeper for India to affect fifty dismissals in Test cricket.
4. He has scored the most runs in a Test series by a wicket-keeper, bringing up 720 runs in the 2021-23 World Test Championship.
5. He has 39 dismissals in a Test series as a keeper, the highest to date.
6. He holds the record for most catches in a Test match.
7. Pant has the 5th most dismissals in a Test inning.
8. He has dismissed 11 batsmen as a wicketkeeper in a Test match, which is the most by any.
9. Pant has taken the 5th most catches in a single Test inning as a keeper.
10. 5th most number of catches taken in a series
11. Pant is 12th in the list of most stumpings in a Test match with three dismissals
12. Pant has a career strike rate of 108.80 in ODIs, the 14th highest for a batsman in the format.

Rishabh Pant Awards and Accolades

1. ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year Award - 2018.
2. ICC Rising Star of the squad - ICC World Cup 2019.

Rishabh Pant Career

Rishabh Pant Domestic Career

Pant initially represented Rajasthan at U-14 and U-16 level. However, at Rajasthan, Pant faced discrimination for supposedly being an outsider and was thrown out of an academy. Pant decided to move from Rajasthan to Delhi to save his career.

Pant made his first class debut in Ranji Trophy debut at the age of 18 in 2015. Pant broke several records by scoring a triple-hundred against Maharashtra. In the 2016-17 season Pant scored a blistering 48-ball hundred against Jharkhand. His exploits and achievements in Ranji Trophy earned him a call-up to India's T20 squad for England's tour of India 2017.

Pant was appointed as the captain of Delhi for the Vijay Hazare Trophy in early 2017. Next year during the Zonal T20 League match between Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, Pant struck the second-fastest hundred in T20 cricket, scoring 100 of just 32 deliveries!

Rishabh Pant IPL Career

Pant's fearless batting style in domestic cricket and India U-19 earned him a lot of attention. So much so, that his first IPL contract bagged him 1.9 crore rupees. Having such a huge IPL price Worth put Pant under a lot of pressure. Pant, however, came out on top of all of it and meet everyone's expectations.

Although his inaugural season wasn't as fruitful as Pant would have expected it to be, his second season, 2017 IPL, turned out to be a miraculous one for the Delhi boy. In his third season, Pant was retained by the Delhi Capitals and was their only light in what was a pretty dark campaign. Rishabh's endeavors in the IPL, earned him his position in the Indian team.

He continued playing with the form that he left in the previous season and scored 488 runs with a strike rate of over 160 in the 2019 IPL which included 3 half-centuries. The year 2020 saw him struggle a bit in terms of striking the hardball. Although he brought up close to 350 runs in the entire season, his strike rate dipped to 113, much lower than Pant’s standards.

The next year saw him captain the side and he performed extremely well as the team ended at the top of the table at the end of the league stage, however, DC got knocked out in the 2nd Qualifier against KKR. He was retained in the 2022 mega auction and had a decent run with the bat. The hard-hitter has scored 2838 IPL career runs with a career strike rate of 148.

Rishabh Pant International Career

Rishabh Pant T20 International Career

Pant made his debut for India in Twenty20 Internationals against England 2017, at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on 1 February 2017. He is the second youngest player for India to debut in a T20I match (youngest at that time) at the age of 19 years 120 days.

In September 2021, Pant played his first ICC T20 World Cup and scored 78 runs in the 3 matches that he played against Pakistan, New Zealand and Afghanistan.

In May 2022. Pant ws appointed the vice-captain of India for the South Africa tour of India. However, KL Rahul stepped down one day before the match as he suffered from an injury. As a result, Pant became the second-youngest captain in the T20 format for India at the age of 24 years and 248 days. He has scored 961 runs in the 62 matches for India, with a best score of 65*.

Rishabh Pant Test Career

Pant was named in India's Test squad for the series against England in August 2018. He made his Test debut against England cricket team on 18 August 2018. Pant became the first batsman for India to begin his career in Test cricket with a six. Pant went on to score his maiden Test century in the same tournament. Pant thus became the second-youngest wicket-keeper and the first Indian wicket-keeper to score a Test century in England.

During India's tour of Australia, Pant took eleven catches. It was the most by a wicket-keeper for India in a Test match. He also scored a century in that series, becoming the first Indian wicketkeeper to achieve this feat in Tests in Australia. Next year in September, Pant achieved another accolade of becoming the fastest Indian wicket-keeper to have dismissed 50 batsmen in Test cricket. He also holds the record of becoming the fastest Indian wicket-keeper batsman to score a thousand runs in Test match cricket.

It was all going well until Rishabh hit a rough patch during the home season of 2019-20. Pant was among the top players in the race of acquiring the wicket-keeping position for India. He was expected to fire big but had an average run with the bat. Although he maintained his place in the Test side, he missed out on the opening Test against Australia. This was a really difficult time for him as he was criticized for not being able to fill in Dhoni’s shoes.

India faced a shameful defeat in the first Test against Australia in the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The team was bundled out for 36 in the first innings and lost the match by 8 wickets. Rishabh was picked up for the next Test where he scored 29 runs in the first innings but he was expected to go big in the upcoming 2 games. The 3rd Test was in Sydney, Australia had a formidable lead of 94 runs.

Australia declared their innings after scoring 312 runs. Chasing a target of 407, India was struggling with 97 overs of play left to salvage the match for India. Pant stepped up and played a resilient knock of 97 runs in 118 deliveries. His performance helped India draw the match.

It was 1-1 with the final Test in Gabba, a ground where Australia was undefeated since 1988. On day 5, India was chasing a target of 328. The responsibility was once again on the shoulders of Rishabh to take India home.

Fighting all odds, Pant went all out and played the innings of his life where he scored 89* and India wrote history by ending Australia’s 33-year-long undefeated streak at the Gabba and winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia!

Rishabh Pant ODI Career

After his test debut against England, Pant was selected in India's ODI squad for their series against the West Indies. Pant made his ODI debut against the West Indies on 21 October 2018.

A few months later after his first ODI appearance, Pant was called up for the 2019 ICC World Cup as a replacement of Shikhar Dhawan who got injured and suffered a hairline fracture. Pant played 4 matches in the World Cup and had his World Cup debut against England where he got out after scoring 32 runs. In the next two games against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Pant scored 48 and 4 runs respectively.

The most crucial match came in next when India faced New Zealand in the semi-final. Pant scored 32 runs in an innings where the Indian batsmen struggled to get going but unfortunately, Pant’s efforts weren’t enough and India lost the match. After the tournament, the ICC announced Pant as the rising star of the squad.

2019 saw him struggle as he went through a lean streak of run scoring. Not being able to maintain consistency in the white ball format, KL Rahul replaced Rishabh. He wasn’t able to get in the squad of 15 against Australia in the 2020-21 away tour as well. After going through difficult times for almost 2 years, Pant finally got into groove. With an impeccable performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rishabh was all set to shine once again.

In the 10 months of cricket that Rishabh has played in 2022, he has scored 311 runs in the 9 ODI matches with the help of 2 half-centuries and his maiden ton which came against England at Manchester.

Rishabh Pant ICC World Cup

In June 2019, Pant got an opportunity to play for India in the Cricket World Cup. He was called up as a replacement for an injured Shikhar Dhawan, who suffered a hairline fracture on his left thumb during India's game against Australia. Pant was named as the rising star of the squad by International Cricket Council (ICC) named Pant. He was named in the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup where he scored 78 runs in the 3 matches that he played. He scored 39, 12 and and 27 ryan against Pakistan, New Zealand, and Afghanistan.

Rishabh Pant Family Background

Rishabh Pant was born on 4 October, 1997 at Haridwar, Uttarakhand, to Rajendra Pant and Saroj Pant. He has a sister named Sakshi Pant. In 2017, Pant's father passed away due to a cardiac arrest. Pant showed extreme dedication and determination and merely two days after cremating his father, Pant scored 57 runs for Delhi Daredevils in an IPL match and dedicated it as a tribute to his late father.'