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Rishabh Pant on Saturday surpassed MS Dhoni to register the most Test centuries by an Indian wicketkeeper-batter and continued his good show in what are regarded as tough wickets in countries outside Asia.
Pant reached the milestone during India's first Test against England at Leeds. In his innings, Pant smashed 134 in 178 balls, with 12 fours and six sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of over 75. Pant now has seven centuries overtaking Dhoni, who has six Test centuries. This is also his fifth century in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) conditions, the most by an Asian batter. Three of these centuries have come in England and one each have come in Australia and South Africa. Also, he has equalled with Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara (seven centuries) for most centuries in Tests as a designated keeper among all Asian countries. Pant has also levelled with former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly to have the joint third-most Test centuries in England (three each). The highest number of centuries by an Indian in England is by Rahul Dravid (6), followed by Sachin Tendulkar (4) and Dilip Vengasarkar (4). This is the fourth instance of three Indian players scoring a century in an innings outside Asia, with the trio of Pant, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal joining the trio of Sunil Gavaskar, Kris Srikkanth and Mohinder Amarnath (Australia, 1986 at Sydney), Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Ganguly (England, 2002 at Leeds) and Sehwag, Dravid and Mohammed Kaif (West Indies, 2006, Gros Islet). This is also the third instance of Pant reaching a Test century with a six - all three off English spinners (Adil Rashid, Joe Root, & Shoaib Bashir). For India, only Sachin Tendulkar has done it more often (six times), while Rohit Sharma also did it thrice. Earlier on Friday, Pant also completed his 3,000 Test runs, becoming the second Indian wicketkeeper-batter to do so after Dhoni and overtook Dhoni to become Asia's most successful wicketkeeper-batter in SENA on the basis of run count. India ended the first session of day two at 454/7, with Ravindra Jadeja (2*) unbeaten. Skipper Gill (147 in 227 balls, with 19 fours and a six) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (101 in 159 balls, with 16 fours) stood out with their tons. While Karun Nair registered a duck on his return to international cricket after eight years, Shardul Thakur also failed to fire. England skipper Ben Stokes (4/66) stood out among bowlers, helping England get some respite in this session with quick wickets. (ANI)
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