- June 24, 2025
Rishabh Pant isn’t just engaging in Test cricket anymore – he’s transforming the game altogether. If you’re a cricket follower, then you’ve probably heard all the excitement surrounding his innings in the ongoing India vs England Test match at Headingley. But let’s not throw around words like “exciting” without context; it isn’t just another hundred. It’s a current record-breaking, “DHONI IS THE PAST” double-ton kind of hysteria. On a gloomy Day 4 in Leeds, Pant turned the Test into a highlight of the championship. And believe us, MS Dhoni would have been proud.
No Longer in the Shadows: Pant Takes the Lead from Dhoni
Without beating around the bush, now Rishabh Pant occupies the record for the most Test runs by a visiting wicketkeeper in England, eclipsing MS Dhoni’s 778 in only 18 innings with a total of 808 runs.
He didn’t just pass the milestone — he stormed past it with fewer chances, bigger impact, and his trademark flair. It came down softly — just a single off Brydon Carse in the 63rd over. But that solitary run represented a narrative of entertainment, aggression, and defiance. What is more mind-boggling is that Pant achieved this feat in five fewer innings than Dhoni. That is the type of statistic that does not just state, but shouts, “next-gen greatness.”
Pant is now in a joint-exclusive club with Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower, and is one of only two designated wicketkeepers to hit centuries in both innings of a Test match.
Double Trouble: A Century in Each Innings — In England
Not merely an innings – a shift of mindset. Pant’s 134 in the first was phenomenal, but his 118 in the second innings flipped the game on its head. He didn’t just stabilize the innings, he counterattacked them so severely that by the time Pant had finished, England had hardly a fight in them left.
Pant is the first Indian player to score hundreds in both innings of a Test in England. It is remarkable how far Pant has come from a free spirit to a potential match-winner, swashbuckling with the bat and keeping brilliantly. When India were 92/3, Pant and KL Rahul put together a part chaos, part calm, 195-run partnership. Rahul stayed calm, Pant went to town, and England were not just losing but learning.
From Flashy to Fearsome: The New Era of Rishabh Pant
Once upon a time, Rishabh Pant was merely labeled as “hit or miss” – a walking highlight reel that might get undone by a rash shot but was capable of winning you a game, too. But now? The boy has changed into a calculated beast, with massive strides in shot selection, strike rotation, and awareness.
Pant’s adjustment from flamboyant to feared is the kind of journey you seldom see in modern cricket. And he is doing this while wearing the gloves and dealing with the workload behind the stumps? That’s not just skill – that’s temperament.
With Rahul steady on 120 and Nair settling in, India closed Day 4 with a strong 304-run lead. Carse tried to fight back with early wickets, but the day — once again — belonged to Pant: record-breaker, entertainer, history-maker.
And here we are: Rishabh Pant, once questioned as too much of a risk-taker for red-ball cricket, is now, statistically and stylistically, India’s most dominant test wicketkeeper in English conditions. He has eclipsed Dhoni and entered the rarefied air of just a handful of cricketers, including legends like Andy Flower, which verges on folklore.
What’s next for him? If this form continues, who knows — maybe the next record to fall will be one we haven’t even thought of yet.
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