Rishabh Pant surpasses MS Dhoni's record, becomes fastest Indian to reach the major feat
At one time, Rishabh Pant had dreamed of playing with his Idol Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MS Dhoni). That dream was fulfilled a few years back. This time Rishabh Pant has broke a record that was being held by his idol 'Mahi Bhai' and Wriddhiman Saha jointly.
The 24-year-old wicketkeeper set the precedent with three catches on the third day of the Boxing Day Test against South Africa. Dhoni and Wriddhiman Saha have held the record of the fastest 100 dismissals in Test matches in 36 Tests. Pant though, has played only 26 Tests and now finds himself at the top of the list.
Pant caught South African team's captain Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma and Wiaan Mulder at SuperSports Park, Centurion during the Day 3's play of the 1st Test match to reach the major feat.
Rishabh Pant has not just only topple the record, he did so for a lot less matches compared to MS Dhoni and Saha. While Dhoni and Saha took 36 Test matches to do so, Rishabh just needed 26 matches, 10 less than the former two.
Pant was rested for the two-match Test series at home against the New Zealand tour. India comfortably won the series 1-0. Wriddhiman Saha was the wicketkeeper in that series against New Zealand in Pant's absence, who was given a rest for the series.
Even though Pant has surpassed his Idol to become the fastest to 100 dismissals, the former India captain is still at the top in terms of most dismissals among Indian keepers.
He has made 294 dismissals in 90 Tests. Syed Kirmani is in second place with 198 dismissals from 88 Test matches. Kiran More is at number three with 130 dismissals in 49 Tests. Nayan Mongia is at number four with 107 dismissals in 44 Tests. Wriddhiman Saha is number five with 104 dismissal from 40 Tests. Pant has dismissed 101 out of 26 Test matches.
With Pant being just 24-year-old, he still has the entirety of his career left and lot to improve on. This is just the beginning of Rishabh Pant.