India vs England: Rishabh Pant scripts unique Test record on debut

Rishabh Pant on Sunday became the fourth Indian wicket-keeper to take five catches on debut when he caught Adil Rashid off Hardik Pandya on the second day of the third Test against England at Trent Bridge.

The 20-year-old, who had just a night earlier clattered Rashid for a monstrous six to open his runs account in Test cricket was just as brilliant behind the stumps. The victims of his five catches were Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Ollie Pope, Chris Woakes and Rashid.

Pant unlike his batting had begun nervously while keeping wickets to the Indian seamers, dropping a few, while failing to get a hand on another couple. Luckily, those were not of any nicks or edges from the English batsmen and by the time the first catch arrived in the 11^th over, Pant had settled.

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When Alastair Cook nicked an Ishant Sharma ball behind the stumps, Pant had caught the first of his five catches, making it two in the very next ball off Jasprit Bumrah.

The rest three of his catches were assisted by Pandya who swung England and bundled them for 161. His surprise bouncer to Chris Woakes had caught both the batsman and the wicket-keeper off guard, but Pant showed a tremendous presence of mind plucking the ball out of thin air.

His great effort put him in the prestigious list of Indian keepers which includes Naren Tamhane (against Pakistan, 1955), Kiran More (against England, 1986) and Naman Ojha (against Sri Lanka, 2016).

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It also made him only the third cricketer to take five catches in a single innings on Test debut. Two Australian wicket-keepers Brian Taber and John Maclean are the other two names in the list.

Earlier, the young left-hander from Delhi had made 24 off 51 balls in his debut Test innings, which had started with a towering six off Rashid. It made him the first Indian player and 12^th overall to open their runs account in Test cricket with a six.

Meanwhile, India at the end of Day 3 at Trent Bridge is comfortably placed in the driver’s seat. India declared their innings at 352/7 and helped by skipper Virat Kohli’s 23^rd Test century and Cheteshwar Pujara’s fighting 72, they have set England a target of 521 runs.