By far, Rishabh Pant is India’s greatest ever Test batter-keeper: Sanjay Manjrekar

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has stated that the Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant is the greatest ever Test keeper-batter for India, going past MS Dhoni.

Manjrekar’s comments came right after Pant smacked an exceptional century against England on Day 2 of the ongoing Headingley Test. Interestingly, this was Pant's third Test century in England.

“Again, I am a believer in where you got your hundreds, and I'm a big sort of, I always look at hundreds. OK, where have we got it? He's got hundreds in England. He's got 100 in South Africa. He's got a couple of hundred in Australia,” Manjrekar said on JioHotstar.

While Dhoni has 2496 Test runs away from home in 48 games at an average of 32.84 with 18 fifties and a century in Pakistan, Rishabh Pant has smacked 1976 runs in 30 Tests at an average of 39.52 with six fifties and five centuries.

While Pant has three centuries in England, he has a century in Australia and moreover, he smacked another century in South Africa, proving his worth in the middle-order. Furthermore, Pant has multiple scores of 90s in this particular format.

“So when you look at MS' hundreds, with all due respect to his fans, his centuries would not be so much in these countries where batting is a bit more challenging, as batting on an Indian pitch. In Test cricket, he's already well ahead of MS,” he added.

“By far, India’s greatest ever Test batter-keeper. I was worried when he was in the 90s that he might end up getting his 8th 90 of his career. It is just unbelievable that he has so many 90s! But he’s a breath of fresh air,” he stated.

Notably, Pant got out, scoring 134 runs in 178 balls with 12 fours and six sixes. Eventually, India posted 471 runs in 113 overs before getting bundled out. Ben Stokes and Josh Tongue scalped four wickets apiece.

In response, England scored 209/3 in 49 overs at stumps on Day 2. Ollie Pope is batting on 100* in 131 balls with 13 fours while Joe Root (28), Zak Crawley (4) and Ben Duckett (62) were back in the pavilion.

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