Rishabh Pant has celebrated his return to Test cricket with a brilliant century. The star Indian wicketkeeper-batsman completed his century on the third day of the Chennai Test against Bangladesh. With this, he also equaled MS Dhoni. Pant, who played the last Test against Bangladesh, was a victim of a road accident in December 2022, in which he was badly injured. More than one and a half years after that accident, Pant returned to Test cricket and scored a brilliant century in the very first match. He also equaled MS Dhoni's record of most centuries as an Indian wicketkeeper.
While local hero Ravichandran Ashwin scored a brilliant century in the first innings at Chepauk ground, fan-favorite Rishabh Pant scored a century in the second innings. Pant, who returned not out after scoring 12 runs on the second day of the match, batted comfortably for some time in the first session of the third day and scored his half-century. After completing his fifty, he rained boundaries. By lunch, he had scored 82 runs. During this, Bangladesh captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto also dropped an easy catch of Pant on the score of 72 runs.
In the second session, everyone was waiting for Pant to complete his century and he did not take much time to do so. Despite being a victim of 'nervous nineties' (out between 90 and 99) 7 times in his Test career, Pant continued to attack even after crossing the 90 mark. Then Pant completed his sixth Test century by taking 2 runs off Shakib Al Hasan's ball. He completed this century in just 124 balls, which included 11 fours and 4 sixes.
Just @RishabhPant17 things 🤟🤟
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 21, 2024
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This century of Pant was special not only for him but for the entire team, so as soon as he completed the century, everyone stood up from wherever they were and started clapping. The spectators present in the stadium also stood up in honor of Pant. He also equaled MS Dhoni's record of 6 Test centuries, which is the highest for any Indian wicketkeeper. Dhoni had scored these 6 centuries in 90 Tests, while Pant equaled it in the 34th Test itself.
Even after the century, Pant was showing an aggressive style and he also hit 2 fours. While trying to continue this style, he got out. On one of his fast shots, Mehdi Hasan Miraz took a catch on his own ball and Pant's brilliant innings of 109 runs came to an end. In his innings, Pant faced 128 balls, hit 13 fours, and also hit 4 sixes. This is only Pant's second century in India, while he has scored a century for the first time against Bangladesh. In his last Test played in December 2022, he scored 93 runs against Bangladesh. In this way, Pant also made up for missing that century.
