Rishabh Pant "Could Surpass Rahul Dravid...": India Star Receives Massive Praise From Sanjay Manjrekar
Following India's vice-captain Rishabh Pant 's twin centuries in the ongoing Leeds Test at Headingley, former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Pant can surpass former skipper Rahul Dravid in scoring the most centuries for India on English soil. The wicketkeeper batter shattered a handful of records with his flamboyant yet composed century on Day 4 of the second innings of the first Test against England at Headingley.
Speaking on 'Match Centre Live' following the conclusion of Day 4 of the first Test of India's tour of England, JioHotstar expert Sanjay Manjrekar offered high praise on Rishabh Pant's historic batting feats as a wicketkeeper
"When you look at all of Rishabh Pant's achievements, the first instinct is to think of him purely as a batter -- and understandably so. When you're talking about batting exploits in England, scoring twin hundreds, the names he's being compared with are legends like Dilip Vengsarkar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sunil Gavaskar. But here's the remarkable part -- he's also a wicketkeeper. That's what makes it almost unbelievable," Manjrekar said at the end of play on Day 4.
"I know someone like Kumar Sangakkara had a phenomenal batting record, but he wasn't quite the keeper that Rishabh Pant is. Pant is India's first and last choice as a wicketkeeper in this Test side -- and that says a lot," he added
In the end, Manjrekar said that there are four Tests still remaining in the England tour, and there are chances that Pant can go ahead of Dravid (6) in scoring the most tons for the national team in England
"If you look at the numbers -- most hundreds by Indians in Tests in England -- Rahul Dravid leads with six. And suddenly, you have Pant's name in that same elite bracket. There's a nice little twist -- there are two Rahul's in this story. You've got KL Rahul, and you've got Rishabh Pant. Who knows, by the time this series is done, Pant could match or even surpass Rahul Dravid. There are still four Tests to go in this series -- that's potentially eight innings for Pant. He's already started in near-perfect fashion," the former player concluded.
After his 134 (178) exploits in the first innings, Pant acted as the catalyst, with KL Rahul serving as the driving force, as they forged a rollicking 195-run partnership to put India in control of the proceedings. Pant switched from his natural belligerent instinct to a robust defensive technique according to the need of the hour.
He had to bid his time and slowly moved from 96 to 99. Eventually, he carved the ball towards the deep point off Shoaib Bashir and scurried for a single to become the first Indian batter to smash a century in each innings of a Test in England.
Pant also entered India's special twin centuries club, featuring icons Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar (3), Rahul Dravid (2), Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rohit Sharma.
The 27-year-old swashbuckler joined an exclusive club and became the second designated wicketkeeper batter to boast hundreds in each innings after Andy Flower, who achieved the feat against South Africa in Harare in 2001 with scores of 142 and 199*.
Pant also joined Don Bradman, Hansie Cronje, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kumar Sangakkara, and Daryl Mitchell among visiting batters with five consecutive 50-plus scores in England, with Australia's talismanic star Steven Smith heading the list with seven.
The explosive southpaw finished his time with the bat in the series opener with 134 and 118 (252), the highest match aggregate for a designated wicketkeeper in a Test in England, bettering Alec Stewart 's 204 (40 & 164) against South Africa at Old Trafford in 1998.
Pant's knock concluded with nine sixes, the joint-most by a batter in a Test in England, equaling the efforts of Andrew Flintoff (vs Aus, Edgbaston, 2005) and captain Ben Stokes (vs Aus, Lord's, 2023).
Overall, during his fruitful run in England, Pant has garnered 808 runs at an average of 42.52 in 10 Tests and 19 innings, with four centuries and two fifties. His strike rate is 69.89.
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