Among Indian batsmen, the record for the most sixes in Test cricket now belongs to this wicketkeeper-batsman.
An outside-off delivery. Stepping out of the crease, Rishabh Pant swung hard. The ball sailed over long-on and cleared the boundary. With that shot, the Indian wicketkeeper-batsman etched his name into the record books of Test cricket.
Pant hit that six off Keshav Maharaj on the second day of the Kolkata Test against South Africa on Saturday. That brought his tally to 92 sixes in just 83 Test innings, the highest by any Indian batsman.
In doing so, Pant broke the record previously held by Virender Sehwag, who smashed 91 sixes in 104 Test matches over a 12-year career.
Pant now sits sixth on the all-time list for most sixes in Test cricket. Only three players in the elite format have managed to hit over a hundred sixes. The record stands at 136 by England captain Ben Stokes, followed by New Zealand’s former skipper Brendon McCullum with 107, now England’s coach, and Australia’s wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist with exactly 100 sixes.
At Eden Gardens on Saturday, Shubman Gill had to leave the field with a neck injury, and Pant came to the crease. He lofted Maharaj over mid-off for four, putting himself alongside Sehwag in the record books. Later, he sent another ball over the boundary, officially claiming the record for himself.
Pant, however, couldn’t build a big innings. He was dismissed caught behind off Corbin Bosch for 27 runs off 24 balls, including two sixes and a four.
Other Indian batsmen struggled as well, with none reaching fifty. Lokesh Rahul managed the top score of 39, with a single six and four fours, as India was bowled out for 189 in their first innings.
