New Delhi: Wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant, who is known for his aggressive batting lived upto his reputation as he clobbered his way to a 100 of just 32 balls in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament clash against Himachal Pradesh on Sunday.
The young wicket-keeper batsman was sacked from the captaincy of the Delhi team, just a week after he led to their first Ranji Trophy final in eight years but the southpaw showed why he is one of the best around at the moment as he scored the century of just 32 balls, which is the second fastest in T20 cricket history after Chris Gayle’s ton in the IPL of just 30 deliveries against Pune Warriors way back in 2013.
Just a day ago, Pant had made a quickfire 51 of 33 balls and had helped Delhi to an eight-wicket win over Jammu and Kashmir.
He joined hands with senior batsman Gautam Gambhir (30 of 33 balls) at the crease and hit 12 sixes and eight fours in his whirlwind knock, as the duo chased down the 144-run target set by Himachal Pradesh by 10 wickets in just 11.4 overs.
Earlier in the first innings, Pant had taken four catches behind the stumps.
Nikhil Gangta was the top-scorer for Himachal Pradesh with 40 runs, with opener Prasanth Chopra scoring 30 of 33 deliveries. Delhi skipper Pradeep Sangwan led the way with two wickets as Navdeep Saini, Lalit Yadav, Kulwant Khejroliya, Pawan Negi and Subodh Bhati took one wicket each.
However, Pant has a history of playing such knocks. During the 2016-2017 edition of the Ranji Trophy, Pant had broken the first class record for the fastest ton as he smashed his way to a 48-ball hundred against Jharkhand. In the process, he surpassed a 28-year-old record set by Tamil Nadu batsman VB Chandrasekhar who had scored a hundred of just 56 balls way back in the 1988-1989 season in an Irani Trophy match against Rest of India.
That very season, Pant had become the youngest wicket-keeper batsman to score a triple hundred in first-class as he scored a scintillating 308 from 326 balls against Maharashtra-an innings which saw him clobber 42 fours and nine sixes.
During the previous edition of the U-19 World Cup held in Bangladesh, Pant, who was Ishan Kishan’s deputy in the then Indian U-19 team had pummeled his way to an 18-ball fifty-the fastest in U-19 World Cup history against Nepal in a group stage clash. He was also bought by IPL franchise Delhi Daredevils for a whopping amount of ₹1.9 crore that very day. He then went on to make his debut for India in a T20I against England in Bengaluru.
The youngster was also retained by the Delhi franchise ahead of this year’s IPL.