Rishabh Pant broke Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s record of becoming the fastest Indian cricketer getting 100 Test dismissals. This comes from 92 catches and eight stumps taken. During the face-off between South Africa and India in the Centurion Test game today, Pant caught a delivery from Mohammed Shami to Temba Bavuma. Interestingly, Shami’s ball helped him get closer to a personal milestone of getting 200 wickets in Test cricket too.

Pant’s catch helped him reach this milestone in 26 Test matches, compared to Dhoni’s 36. Until now, the closest a wicketkeeper has come to Dhoni’s record is Wriddhiman Saha, who’s Pant’s backup in the squad. He has already reached the magic 100 but in 37 matches. Others on the list are Kiran More, who got to this point in 39 matches, Nayan Mongia, who took 41 Tests to reach the mark, and Syed Kirmani, who got 100 dismissals in 42 Tests. 

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This is not the first time Pant has surpassed his mentor, Dhoni. In January 2021 he clinched the record of being the quickest Indian Test cricketer to get 1,000 runs. The spectacular performance came during a showdown between India and Australia. While Dhoni had taken 32 innings to reach this milestone, Pant managed to achieve the same in 27. 

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With this, he joined another exclusive list including Farokh Engineer, Saha, and Mongia. In many ways, Pant has been considered as Dhoni’s replacement, with many believing that the young cricketer has the potential to win acclaim across all formats of cricket, much like Dhoni, who led the Indian team to new heights. 

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The wicketkeeper and left-handed batter made his debut back in 2018 when India was touring England. His first venture ended in a team victory when he appeared in the series held at Nottingham. Since then, Pant has racked up runs and has three centuries as well as seven half-centuries to his name.