New Delhi: India is currently competing against Australia in the first Test of the five-match series for the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Optus Stadium in Perth. Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, India faced difficulties in forming partnerships and were all out for a mere 150 runs before Tea on Day 1. Rishabh Pant stood out among the batters with a solid performance, making history as the first player worldwide to achieve a remarkable milestone in the World Test Championship (WTC) during this innings.
Rishabh Pant scored 37 off 78 balls in India’s first innings against Australia, bringing his total to 2034 runs in the World Test Championship. With this achievement, he became the first player in history to score 2000 runs as a wicketkeeper in WTC. While England’s Ollie Pope and New Zealand’s Tom Latham have also surpassed 2000 runs in the WTC, both have played only a handful of innings (4 and 1, respectively) as designated wicketkeepers for their teams.
Rishabh Pant has now joined an elite group of Indian players, becoming the third after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to score 2000 runs in the history of the World Test Championship (WTC).
Here are the players with the most runs for India in WTC history:
Rohit Sharma – 2685
Virat Kohli – 2432
Rishabh Pant – 2034
Shubman Gill – 1800
Cheteshwar Pujara – 1769
India won the toss and chose to bat first but were dismissed for a modest 150. Debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy top-scored with 41, standing out in a struggling Indian batting lineup. Australia, too, faced challenges with the bat, as Jasprit Bumrah put on a fiery display, claiming four wickets. Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana provided solid support, taking 2 and 1 wicket, respectively, leaving Australia in a precarious position.