Rishabh Pant equals Virender Sehwag’s long-standing Test record despite injury

MANCHESTER: Wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant on Thursday, made history as he equalled legendary batter Virender Sehwag’s 12-year-old record of hitting the most sixes in Tests for India.

The left-handed batter, nursing a fractured foot, achieved the milestone on the second day of their ongoing fourth Test against England by dispatching a back-of-the-hand slower ball from Jofra Archer for a six.

As a result, he drew level with Sehwag, who took 103 Tests to hit 91 sixes, while Pant achieved the milestone in just his 47th Test.

Most sixes for India in Tests

• Rishabh Pant – 91 in 47 Tests

• Virender Sehwag – 91 in 103 Tests

• Rohit Sharma – 88 in 67 Tests

• MS Dhoni – 78 in 90 Tests

• Ravindra Jadeja – 74 in 84 Tests

Pant, who was forced to retire hurt on the opening day of the aforementioned fixture as he sustained a blow to his foot while playing a reverse sweep off Chris Woakes, walked out to bat again when India lost their sixth wicket with 314 runs on the board.

The 27-year-old added 17 runs to his tally and scored a fighting half-century, which propelled India past the 350-run mark.

Furthermore, Rishabh Pant also became India’s all-time leading run-scorer in the history of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC), surpassing former captain Rohit Sharma, who had 2716 runs to his name in 40 matches.

Pant, on the other hand, has now scored 2731 runs in his 38th WTC appearance.

His record-breaking knock despite the injury, coupled with half-centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan, helped India to post a formidable total of 358 in the first innings of the ongoing Manchester Test.