Rishabh Pant becomes first Indian with 100 Test sixes: Stats
What's the story
Rishabh Pant, the explosive wicketkeeper-batter, has become the first Indian to complete 100 sixes in Test cricket. The hard-hitting batter reached the milestone on Day 4 of the 1st Test against Sri Lanka at Galle International Stadium. While he cleared the ropes once en route to his 39 in India's first innings, Pant completed the century of sixes with his second maximum in the third innings.
Elite club
Pant joins these names
Having taken just 51 games and 89 innings, Pant became the fastest batter to complete 100 Test sixes.
He, overall, became just the fourth batter with this special milestone.
England's Ben Stokes tops the list with 138 sixes, followed by former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum (107) and Australia's Adam Gilchrist (100).
Like Pant, each of Gilchrist's 100 sixes came as a designated wicketkeeper-batter.
Stats
Over 3,500 runs in the format
Pant has also been a prolific run-scorer for India, amassing over 3,570 runs at an average of 42-plus.
He is the second-highest run-scorer as a wicketkeeper for India in Tests, only behind Dhoni (4,876).
His eight centuries speak volumes about his ability to anchor innings despite the challenges of the format.
Only Gilchrist (17) and Andy Flower (12) have hammered more hundreds as a designated keeper.
Pant has also hit 19 fifties.
Feat
Pant owns these sixes milestone
Pant owns the record for smashing the third-most sixes in a bilateral Test series, having hit 17 in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in England last year.
His overall tally of 28 sixes in England is the most for any visiting batter in a nation (excluding neutral games).
Pant is the only Indian batsman to open his Test match career account with a six.
He hit English spinner Adil Rashid for a maximum straight down the ground off the second ball he faced during the 2018 Trent Bridge Test.
Feat
One of the two keepers with this feat
Pant scored centuries in both innings of the Leeds Test match against England last year.
He made 134 in his first outing and followed it up with a score of 118. His match aggregate of 252 runs is the highest by an Indian wicketkeeper in a Test.
As per Cricbuzz, Pant became only the second designated wicket-keeper to smoke twin hundreds in a Test, joining Zimbabwe legend Andy Flower.