When Rishabh Pant caught Australia’s Josh Hazlewood first ball off the bowling of Mohammed Shami in the first Test in Adelaide, it was the Indian wicketkeeper’s six catch of Australia’s first innings, lifting the 21-year-old into the record books alongside the great keepers in Test history.
With that sixth catch, Pant became only the 24th wicketkeeper to make six or more dismissals in a Test match innings, with four of those keepers completing an incredible seven dismissals in an innings. In total, these wicketkeepers have taken six or more dismissals in an innings on 29 occasions, and amazingly none of these instances included the keepers making any stumpings – the six or seven dismissals in an innings were all catches.
In total, 13 of these occurrences were in the first innings of a Test, 11 in the second innings and four in the third innings, while this feat was achieved just once in the fourth innings of a Test (BJ Watling vs India, 2014).
PANT’S SIX CATCHES VS AUSTRALIA, FIRST TEST, ADELAIDE
| UT Khawaja | c Pant | b Ashwin | 28 |
| PSP Handscomb | c Pant | b Bumrah | 34 |
| TM Head | c Pant | b Mohammed Shami | 72 |
| TD Paine | c Pant | b I Sharma | 5 |
| MA Starc | c Pant | b Bumrah | 15 |
| JR Hazlewood | c Pant | b Mohammed Shami | 0 |
Mark Boucher is the most prolific keeper on the list, having taken six catches in an innings on four occasions. Boucher is followed by New Zealand’s BJ Watling and England Jack Russell, both of whom have completed six catches on two occasions.
Pant also became only the second Indian wicketkeeper to achieve the feat, after MS Dhoni took six catches in the second innings against New Zealand at Wellington in 2009. Pant is also one of six players with a first initial of ‘R’, which is the dominant initial on the list.
Four South Africans have achieved the feat – Boucher, AB de Villiers, Denis Lindsay and Joburg-born Matt Prior (although he did it for England, so it doesn’t really count as a South African).
In his first five Tests, Pant took 20 catches and two stumpings, and he started in fine form, taking five catches in his first innings in Tests with the gloves on against England at Trent Bridge in August 2018.
Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
