Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Rajendra Pant is an Indian cricketer who represents the country at the international level. On the domestic level, Pant represents Delhi. He also captains the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Pant has stepped up as arguably the best wicketkeeper-batter for India in recent years after MS Dhoni stopped playing. He has performed well, especially in the longer format of the game. His heroics in the 2021 Border-Gavaskar Trophy helped India win the series.

Pant is one of India's best wicketkeeper-batter, and features regularly in the Indian cricket team in Dhoni's absence, especially in Tests. Pant is very popular for his aggressive batting style and his fearless approach to situations. Rishabh was the first Indian batsman to get off the mark on his Test debut with a six. Rishabh is one of the finest young talents that India has to offer to world cricket, progressing forward year after year with consistent performances for India. 

However, a car accident in December 2022 saw Pant being ruled out from playing professional cricket for over a year. With his resilience and determination, the 26-year-old made a comeback at IPL 2024. He is also in the scheme of things for the upcoming ICC World T20 in the USA and West Indies.

Rishabh Pant: Along the Years

Rishabh Pant Records

• Fastest fifty for India in the U-19 World Cup and the second-fastest fifty in U-19 World Cup history.

• Second youngest player for India to debut in a T20I match.

• First batter for India to begin his career in Test cricket with a six

• Fastest wicket-keeper for India to affect fifty dismissals in Test cricket.

• He has scored the most runs in a Test series by a wicket-keeper, bringing up 720 runs in the 2021-23 World Test Championship. 

• He has 39 dismissals in a Test series as a keeper, the highest to date.

• He holds the record for most catches in a Test match.

• Pant has the 5th most dismissals in a Test inning.

• He has dismissed 11 batsmen as a wicketkeeper in a Test match, which is the most by any.

• Pant has taken the 5th most catches in a single Test inning as a keeper.

• 5th most number of catches taken in a series

• Pant is 12th in the list of most stumpings in a Test match with three dismissals

• Pant has a career strike rate of 108.80 in ODIs, the 14th highest for a batsman in the format.

Rishabh Pant Awards and Accolades

• ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year Award - 2018.

• ICC Rising Star of the Squad - ICC World Cup 2019.

Rishabh Pant Career

Rishabh Pant shot to prominence due to his attacking style of play during the 2016 ICC U-19 World Cup and the Indian Premier League. He made his senior international debut for the Indian Cricket Team in a T20I against England in 2017. 

Rishabh Pant Domestic Career

Pant initially represented Rajasthan at the U-14 and U-16 levels. However, in Rajasthan, Pant faced discrimination for supposedly being an outsider and was thrown out of an academy. Pant decided to move from Rajasthan to Delhi to save his career.

Pant made his first-class debut in Ranji Trophy debut at the age of 18 in 2015. Pant broke several records by scoring a triple-hundred against Maharashtra. In the 2016-17 season, Pant scored a blistering 48-ball hundred against Jharkhand. His exploits and achievements in the Ranji Trophy earned him a call-up to India's T20 squad for England's tour of India 2017.

Pant was appointed as the captain of Delhi for the Vijay Hazare Trophy in early 2017. Next year during the Zonal T20 League match between Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, Pant struck the second-fastest hundred in T20 cricket, scoring 100 of just 32 deliveries!

Rishabh Pant IPL Career

Pant's fearless batting style in domestic cricket and India U-19 earned him a lot of attention. So much so, that his first IPL contract bagged him 1.9 crore rupees. Having such a huge IPL price Worth put Pant under a lot of pressure. Pant, however, came out on top of all of it and met everyone's expectations.

Although his inaugural season wasn't as fruitful as Pant would have expected it to be, his second season, the 2017 IPL, turned out to be a miraculous one for the Delhi boy. In his third season, Pant was retained by the Delhi Capitals and was their only light in what was a pretty dark campaign. Rishabh's endeavors in the IPL earned him his position in the Indian team.

He continued playing with the form that he left in the previous season and scored 488 runs with a strike rate of over 160 in the 2019 IPL including 3 half-centuries. The year 2020 saw him struggle a bit in terms of striking the hardball. Although he brought up close to 350 runs in the entire season, his strike rate dipped to 113, much lower than Pant’s standards.

He was retained in the 2022 mega auction and had a decent run with the bat. The hard-hitter has scored 2838 IPL career runs with a career strike rate of 148 and returned to playing professional cricket at IPL 2024, over a year after his car accident.

Rishabh Pant International Career

Rishabh Pant has been a vital cog in India’s Test setup but has yet to deliver his best in the limited-overs formats. The Dehli wicketkeeper-batter is known for his cheeky shots and attacking style of play.

Rishabh Pant ODI Career

After his test debut against England, Pant was selected in India's ODI squad for their series against the West Indies. Pant made his ODI debut against the West Indies on 21 October 2018.

A few months later after his first ODI appearance, Pant was called up for the 2019 ICC World Cup as a replacement for Shikhar Dhawan who got injured and suffered a hairline fracture. Pant played 4 matches in the World Cup and had his World Cup debut against England where he got out after scoring 32 runs. In the next two games against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Pant scored 48 and 4 runs respectively.

The most crucial match came next when India faced New Zealand in the semi-final. Pant scored 32 runs in an innings where the Indian batsmen struggled to get going but unfortunately, Pant’s efforts weren’t enough and India lost the match. After the tournament, the ICC announced Pant as the rising star of the squad.

2019 saw him struggle as he went through a lean streak of run-scoring. Not being able to maintain consistency in the white ball format, KL Rahul replaced Rishabh. He wasn’t able to get in the squad of 15 against Australia in the 2020-21 away tour as well. After going through difficult times for almost 2 years, Pant finally got into the groove. With an impeccable performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rishabh was all set to shine once again.

In the 10 months of cricket that Rishabh has played in 2022, he has scored 311 runs in the 9 ODI matches with the help of 2 half-centuries and his maiden ton which came against England at Manchester.

Rishabh Pant Test Career

Pant was named in India's Test squad for the series against England in August 2018. He made his Test debut against the England cricket team on 18 August 2018. Pant became the first batsman for India to begin his career in Test cricket with a six. Pant went on to score his maiden Test century in the same tournament. Pant thus became the second-youngest wicket-keeper and the first Indian wicket-keeper to score a Test century in England.

During India's tour of Australia, Pant took 11 catches. It was the most by a wicket-keeper for India in a Test match. He also scored a century (159*) in that series, becoming the first Indian wicketkeeper to achieve the feat in Tests in Australia. Next year in September, Pant achieved another accolade of becoming the fastest Indian wicket-keeper to have dismissed 50 batsmen in Test cricket. He also holds the record of becoming the fastest Indian wicket-keeper batsman to score a thousand runs in Test match cricket.

It was all going well until Rishabh hit a rough patch during the home season of 2019-20. Pant was among the top players in the race to acquire the wicket-keeping position for India. He was expected to fire big but had an average run with the bat. Although he maintained his place in the Test side, he missed out on the opening Test against Australia. This was a really difficult time for him as he was criticized for not being able to fill in Dhoni’s shoes.

India faced a shameful defeat in the first Test against Australia in the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The team was bundled out for 36 in the first innings and lost the match by 8 wickets. Rishabh was picked up for the next Test where he scored 29 runs in the first innings but he was expected to go big in the upcoming 2 games. The 3rd Test was in Sydney, Australia had a formidable lead of 94 runs.

Australia declared their innings after scoring 312 runs. Chasing a target of 407, India was struggling with 97 overs of play left to salvage the match for India. Pant stepped up and played a resilient knock of 97 runs in 118 deliveries. His performance helped India draw the match.

It was 1-1 with the final Test in Gabba, a ground where Australia was undefeated since 1988. On day 5, India was chasing a target of 328. The responsibility was once again on the shoulders of Rishabh to take India home.

Fighting all odds, Pant went all out and played the innings of his life where he scored 89* and India wrote history by ending Australia’s 33-year-long undefeated streak at the Gabba and winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia!

Rishabh Pant T20I Career

Rishabh Pant made his debut for India in Twenty20 Internationals against England 2017, at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on 1 February 2017. He is the second youngest player for India to debut in a T20I match (youngest at that time) at the age of 19 years 120 days.

In September 2021, Pant played his first ICC T20 World Cup and scored 78 runs in the 3 matches that he played against Pakistan, New Zealand and Afghanistan.

Rishabh Pant Captaincy

In May 2022. Pant was appointed the vice-captain of the Men in Blue for the South Africa Tour of India. However, captain KL Rahul revealed that he was injured one day before the match. As a result, Pant became the second-youngest captain (after Suresh Raina) in the T20Is for India at the age of 24 years and 248 days. He has scored 987 runs in the 66 T20Is for India, with a highest score of 65*.

In the IPL, Rishabh Pant captained the side in the 2021 edition and performed extremely well, as the team finished at the top of the table at the end of the league stage. However, DC got knocked out in the second Qualifier against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). 

Rishabh Pant U-19 Career

Rishabh Pant played as the vice-captain for India at the 2016 ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup, where they finished as the runners-up, losing to West Indies in the final. He opened the innings for the Indian team, scoring 267 runs at an average of 44.50, and also scored the then-fastest fifty at that level, off just 18 balls against Nepal.

Rishabh Pant Family

Rishabh Pant was born on October 4, 1997, in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, to Rajendra Pant and Saroj Pant. He has a sister named Sakshi Pant. In 2017, Pant's father passed away due to a cardiac arrest. Pant showed extreme dedication and determination and merely two days after cremating his father, Pant scored 57 runs for Delhi Daredevils in an IPL match and dedicated it as a tribute to his late father.

Rishabh Pant's Net Worth

As of 2024, Rishabh Pant has an estimated net worth of INR 100 crores or USD 12 million.

Rishabh Pant’s House

Rishabh Pant resides in his Roorkee house along with his family and also owns houses in Delhi, Haridwar, and Dehradun.

Rishabh Pant’s Cars

Rishabh Pant has a luxurious car collection, including an Audi A8, a Mercedes Benz C Class, a Ford Mustang, and a Mercedes Benz GLE.