Rishabh Pant: The new wonder kid
Rishabh Pant is the new kid on the block who is creating a name for himself in all three formats of the game. He is an attacking wicketkeeper, which is a rare trait to be seen in Tests nowadays.
Pant was born in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, in 1997. To make a name for himself, he moved from Roorkee to Delhi to Rajasthan and finally settled in Delhi. He made his first-class debut against Bengal in 2015 and came into limelight when he scored 308 runs in an innings against Maharashtra, at the age of 19 years, becoming the third youngest Indian to score a triple century.
Later in November 2016, he scored a brilliant hundred in just 48 balls against Jharkhand, the fastest first-class hundred by an Indian.
For such dominating performances in the domestic circuit, he was picked by the Delhi Daredevils for INR 1.9 crores. He gave a response in style by scoring a hundred on the same day of the auction.
In his debut IPL season in 2017, he scored match-winning quick-fire fifty against Gujarat Lions. The Gujarat Lions became a victim of his onslaught again when they played against Delhi in the second leg as Pant scored 97 runs off just 43 balls.
He made his international debut, against England at the Chinaswamy Stadium on February 2017 and made unbeaten 5 runs in 3 balls. It was a high-scoring game and India won the match by 75 runs.
He made his test debut in England, in July 2018 and got off the mark with a six in his test career, becoming the first Indian to do so. In his second test in the same series, he hit his maiden test century. Owing to such performances, he was picked in the ODI squad against West Indies at home.
From the start, he has always loved to take on the bowlers and tries to play dominant innings. As MS Dhoni is likely to hang up his boots in coming years, he is considered to be a rightful heir to his position. He has made his name on the international level in such a young age and nothing but a long career in India jersey is expected from him.
In the test matches, he plays his attacking range of shots is seen more often and has drawn similarities with the Australian wicket-keeping legend, Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist also used to play down in the lower order and always had a go against the fast bowlers.
Pant has now scored his second Test hundred, against Australia in the ongoing fourth Test of the series and should perform consistently well at the highest level to become an indispensable part of the team in all formats.