To be India’s best-ever keeper-batter in Tests, is no mean feat. Rishabh Pant is all of 27, and has already scored 3290 runs in 45 Tests, at an average of 44. Yes, MS Dhoni has more career runs — 4876 runs in 90 matches, but was never as effective as Pant. For those who don’t agree to this, MSD never scored a century in SENA nations, and the southpaw, early on in his career, has six.
Rishabh Pant, One of the Top Test Batters?
Four of those are in England, while one each have come in Australia and South Africa. So, that really ends the debate here. That said, even though the world realises the potential of Rishabh Pant – the Test batter, but maybe the man himself doesn’t. And it’s high time, it all changed.
Former India spinner R Ashwin believes, Pant is more than a keeper-batter, in fact better than Adam Gilchrist. On his Youtube channel, he said, “People often compare him with Gilchrist, but he’s not. Adam Gilchrist didn’t have this kind of defence. Pant has a high-quality defence. He should be compared with some of the best batters in the world, not just wicketkeepers.”
And all this isn’t for no reason. Statically speaking, Sunil Gavaskar tops the list of Indian batsmen, when it comes to scoring centuries, per innings. He took 6.29 innings to score a Test ton, followed by Sachin Tendulkar at 6.45. Mohammad Azharuddin comes in at 6.68, and Virat Kohli is at 7. Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid come below that.
A Case of What Could Have Been
Pant has 8 centuries currently in 79 innings — and his ratio will be 9.8 for now. But had he gone on to convert all his 90 plus scores — 7 till now — into hundreds, he would have been at the top of this list too. If not for those 90s, Pant would have had 15 tons till now, that would have brought down his ton/innings ratio to only 5.2.
While all this is based on assumption, the idea is only to show, what tremendous potential the Indian keeper holds. Out of all the active players across the world, no one has more 90s to their name. In the current IND vs ENG series, he has already gone on to make some serious scores. In the first Test at Leeds, he returned with twin tons (134 & 118), and then followed it with 65 in Edgbaston. So, possibilities are endless with Pant.
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