A professional Indian cricketer, Rishabh Pant also known as Rishabh Rajendra Pant is a promising talent from the union territory of Delhi, who came under the radar after his exploits for India Under-19 in the 2016 World Cup.
Early Life of Rishabh Pant
Born on 4th October, 1997, Rishabh Pant hails from Haridwar in the state of Uttarakhand. With an elder sister named Sakshi Pant, Rishabh is the youngest son born to Rajendra Pant and Saroj Pant. Rishabh Pant started his career by coaching under Tarak Sinha at the Sonnet cricket academy.
His coach suggested him to overhaul his entire batting technique which was based on hand-eye coordination to become a better batsman. The turning point in his career came when he played for the U-19 cricket for Delhi against Assam. Rishabh Pant had top scored with 35 but his wicket gave away at a hat-trick. He then hit 150 in the second innings which was the most important knock in his career.
Domestic Career of Rishabh Pant
On 22nd October, 2015 in the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy, Rishabh Pant made his first class debut and later in the same year on December, he made his List A debut in the 2015-16 Vijay Hazare Trophy. Rishabh Pant is known to be the third-youngest Indian to score a triple century in first-class cricket. He achieved this feat while playing a match against Maharashtra in the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy and scored 308 runs in an innings.
In 2016 Delhi"s match against Jharkhand, Rishabh Pant scored the fastest century in the Ranji Trophy, from just 48 balls. Later in the 2016-17, Vijay Hazare Trophy Rishabh Pant took over Gautam Gambhir"s role as the captain of Delhi. On 14th January, in the 2017–18 Zonal T20 League fixture between Himachal Pradesh and Delhi, Pant scored the second-fastest century in a Twenty20 match, making 100 from 32 balls.
Post the U19 World Cup in 2016, Rishabh Pant was bought by Delhi Daredevils for Rs 1.9 crore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions. In his first season with them, the left-hander scored 198 runs in 10 matches at a strike-rate of 130. He improved his scoring-rate and returned with 366 runs at 165.61 in the following season.
During the 2018 Indian Premier League, Rishabh Pant went on to amass as many as 684 runs with the help of one century and 5 half-centuries against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. This made the second highest individual score by an Indian cricketer in a Twenty20 match, surpassing the previous records of Murali Vijay and Virender Sehwag.
International Career of Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant"s international debut was in the Indian T20I side for the series against England and made his debut on 1st February 2017 in the third match of the series. The match at Bengaluru saw him become the then-youngest T20I debutant for India, a record which is now held by Washington Sundar. Rishabh Pant as of now has played 4 T20 internationals for India and has scored 73 runs in them.
He made his debut in the One Day International (ODI) against the West Indies on 21st October, 2018. In December 2018, during the first Test against Australia, he took eleven catches, the most by a wicket-keeper for India in a Test. In January 2019, during the fourth Test against Australia, Pant became the first wicket-keeper for India to score a century in a Test match in Australia.
Career Statistics of Rishabh Pant
Listed below are the statistics of Rishabh Pant"s career:
| Competition | Test | ODI | T20I | FC |
| Matches | 9 | 3 | 13 | 32 |
| Runs Scored | 696 | 41 | 229 | 2440 |
| Batting Average | 49.71 | 20.5 | 22.9 | 53.04 |
| 100s/50s | 2/2 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 6/10 |
| Top Score | 159 | 24 | 58 | 308 |
| Catches | 40/2 | 3/0 | 3/0 | 106/9 |
