Rishabh Pant scored his fourth century, waging a lone battle for India on Day 3 of the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town. Pant played beautifully, taking 133 balls to get to his hundred even as wickets continued to tumble at the other end. He now has Test centuries in England, Australia and South Africa.
Pant remained unbeaten on 100 as India were bowled out for 198 in their second innings. With this, Pant became the first wicketkeeper from India to score a Test century in South Africa. Before him, the record for the highest individual score by an Indian wicketkeeper against Proteas belonged to MS Dhoni, who hit 90 in a Test match in Centurion during the 2010/11 tour.
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Pant's score is also the highest score by an Asian wicketkeeper batsman in South Africa. Besides Dhoni's knock, former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara had scored 89 in 2002/03 while Bangladesh's Liton Das had played a knock of 70 at Bloemfontein in 2017/18.
It was an innings of great grit and determination from Pant. With India losing two wickets in the first three overs of the day, Pant came together with Virat Kohli to ensure the team did not endure any further bumps along the way. After lunch however, India suffered a collapse, losing five wickets in quick succession but Pant carried on.
{{/usCountry}}It was an innings of great grit and determination from Pant. With India losing two wickets in the first three overs of the day, Pant came together with Virat Kohli to ensure the team did not endure any further bumps along the way. After lunch however, India suffered a collapse, losing five wickets in quick succession but Pant carried on.
{{/usCountry}}Another feature about Pant's innings is how selflessly he played for the team. After he bludgeoned a couple of sixes to enter the 90s, Pant ensured he took most of the strike, keeping Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah away from the threatening South African pace trio of Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi as much as possible by taking singles off either the penultimate or last ball of the over.
But more importantly, Pant stayed there and took India's lead beyond 200. When Jansen dismissed Shami for the 9th Indian wicket, it seemed as if Pant's wait for a fourth century would prolong, but the 23-year-old stuck to his tactics, taking a single down to fine leg to get to the three-figure mark. The entire change room applauded the effort, and perhaps the only shame was that there was no crowd to witness this fantastic knock.