In recent times ever since cricket returned after the Covid scare if there has been one batsman in the Indian line-up who has stayed extremely consistent in the middle and has paved a major way for India’s overhaul that has been Rishabh Pant.
He has been sensational with his strokeplay and has dominated the proceedings with exceptional brilliance and has been extremely belligerent even in the face of crisis. He has carved knocks after knocks of dominance against Australia and today he led India’s resurgence against England before being caught by Jack Leach in the bowling of Dom Bess. The latter has been a sparkling sensation as he managed to rip through the Indian batting line-up by scalping four crucial wickets.
This young wicket-keeper took up cricket at the early age of 12. He was an exceptional batsman at such a tender age and the way he batted in those times, has been scintillating, to say the least.
Hailing all the way from Roorkee, Uttarakhand, Pant was born to Rajendra Pant and Saroj Pant. At the young age of 12 years, he would travel with his mother to train at the Sonnet Cricket Academy under the chaperonage of Tarak Sinha.
Sinha suggested Pant switch over to Rajasthan to play U-13 and U-15 cricket, unfortunately, the request fell on deaf ears. He was like a young bottle of rebellion, bubbling against the cricketing norms, defying the world with everything that one detests in cricket.
We are all aware of the fact that how he cheers up the team with his own ridiculous jokes and his cute little pep-talks behind the stumps. We have also seen yesterday how he left the entire nation in splits when he went running in a completely opposite direction and he also aligned with Rohit Sharma in the exact same angle to give another comic shot to Jack Leach.
We will be sneaking a peek into seven unknown facts about Pant’s life that would have otherwise always stayed under the wraps.
1) Rishabh Pant scored the fastest half-century at the U-19 level as he stormed a blistering fifty in 18 balls.
2) He is the only wicket-keeper to smash centuries against Australia and England.
3) Rishabh Pant was the youngest Indian cricketer to make a debut in a T20I match at the age of 19 years 120 days. However, that record was broken by Washington Sundar.
4) In September 2019, during the second Test against West Indies, Pant became the fastest Indian wicket-keeper to impact 50 dismissals in Test cricket.
5) Rishabh Pant chose cricket as his career to follow the path of his icon and it was none other than the illustrious Australia wicket-keeper, Adam Gilchrist. I wouldn’t lie but he is my icon too.
6) Pant also scored the fastest century in Ranji Trophy as he blasted a sublime century off just 48 balls. It came against Jharkhand.
7) He also drafted the fastest century by an Indian in T20 cricket. Playing against Himachal Pradesh, the southpaw scorched his way to the hallowed figure in just 32 balls. In fact, this is also the second-fastest century in T20 cricket all around the world, just two balls behind Chris Gayle.
