Rishabh Pant Climbs To 6th In Test Batter Rankings: Indian wicketkeeper-batting Rishabh Pant has re-entered the top 10 rankings for batters, as he is now No. 6 in the ICC Test batting rankings after his century against Bangladesh in the first of two Test matches.
Pant made his return to red-ball cricket for the Indian Cricket Team after nearly two years. He last played a Test for the national team back in November 2022, that match being against the Bangla Tigers as well.
After his horrific car accident in December 2022, the keeper had to stay away from cricket for over a year due to his multiple injuries. He made his return to top-class cricket in IPL 2024, where he looked good and showed glimpses of the old Rishabh Pant.
The Delhi Capitals captain was then picked in the squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup. He was part of the XI in every match of the team that would win their first World Cup in 13 years. And now, Pant has made his return to every format of the game since he was named in the squad for the two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
In the first inning of the game, Rishabh scored a fighting 39 in 52 balls after the top-order collapse. But it was the third inning where the Delhi-based keeper-batter showed his true form.
After India lost three quick wickets yet again in this inning, Pant, along with Shubman Gill, took charge of the inning and ran up the scoreboard. Not much was required of the batters as India already had a 200+ lead after the first inning, but Rishabh and Shubman batted through Day Three and scored their 100s, with Pant scoring a quickfire 109 off 128 balls before being dismissed by Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
Rishabh Pant Climbs To 6th In Test Batter Rankings
While it was Ravichandran Ashwin who won the Player of the Match award for scoring a 100 in the first and taking a fifer in the fourth inning, Rishabh Pant saw his stock and ranking rise immensely.
In the ICC Test batter rankings, Pant made an entry with 731 points, enough for him to be at sixth, ahead of Usman Khwaja of Australia on seventh with 728 points.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, having scored a 50 in the first inning too, saw his rank improve by one. He is now the highest-ranked Indian Test batter at fifth with 751 points. Shubman Gill too rose in ranks by five positions to 14th. Ravindra Jadeja rose three ranks to 37th, and Ashwin rose seven ranks to 72.
But not all Indian batters had a good outing in that Test. Captain Rohit Sharma scored a combined 11 runs in the game. His rank slipped by five to 10th with 716 points. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli saw his rank drop by five as well, to 12th with 709 points, one spot behind Pakistan’s Babar Azam on 11th with 712 points.
England’s Joe Root tops the men’s Test batter ranking with a whopping points tally of 899. New Zealand’s Kane Williamson is second with 852, while his fellow Kiwi Daryl Mitchell is third with 760. Aussie icon Steve Smith is fourth with 757 points, and Yashasvi Jaiswal rounds out the top five.
As for the next India vs Bangladesh match, it will be played in Kanpur’s Green Park Stadium and will commence on September 27.
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