IND vs ENG: Pant and KL Rahul Set New Records at Lord’s in Test Series Against England

Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul delivered record-breaking performances for India in the ongoing Test series against England, setting new milestones at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground.

India vice-captain Rishabh Pant showed resilience and brilliance with the bat on Day 3 of the third Test at Lord’s, despite dealing with a finger injury. His gritty 74 off 112 balls featured two powerful sixes, taking his tally to 35 sixes against England in Test cricket. This allowed Pant to surpass West Indies legend Vivian Richards, who had previously held the record with 34 sixes against England.

Pant also equaled Rohit Sharma’s record of 88 sixes in Test cricket for India, needing just two more to match Virender Sehwag’s all-time high of 90. Remarkably, Pant has achieved this in just 46 Tests, significantly quicker than Rohit’s 67.

During this innings, Pant also broke MS Dhoni’s decade-old record for the most runs by an Indian wicketkeeper on a Test tour to England. Dhoni had scored 349 runs in the 2014 tour, but Pant has now overtaken that with 416 runs in just three matches. His performances also made him the first visiting wicketkeeper to score over 400 runs in a single Test series in England.

Pant’s innings came to an end just before the lunch break, run out by a brilliant piece of fielding from England captain Ben Stokes, who gathered the ball and hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end to catch Pant short.

Meanwhile, KL Rahul created history of his own on the same day. The opener became only the second Indian batsman to score more than one Test century at Lord’s, joining Dilip Vengsarkar who had achieved the feat thrice in the 1980s. Rahul reached the milestone with a composed 100 off 177 deliveries, including 13 boundaries.

This century was Rahul’s fourth in England, placing him alongside Pant, Sachin Tendulkar, and Vengsarkar for the second-most hundreds by an Indian in England. Only Rahul Dravid stands ahead with six. With three of his four centuries coming as an opener, Rahul now holds the record for the most centuries by an Indian or Asian opener in England.

Rahul has been India’s most consistent performer in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) countries this decade. With five centuries in these conditions since 2020, he leads the pack ahead of Pant (4), Shubman Gill (3), Yashasvi Jaiswal (2), and Ravindra Jadeja (1). He also tops the run chart among Indian openers in SENA nations in the 2020s, with 1129 runs from 14 matches. The next best is Rohit Sharma with 691 runs in 11 games.

In the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, Rahul has been pivotal, scoring 337 runs in five innings at an average of 67.40, including two centuries and a half-century, making him the fourth-highest run-scorer in the series so far.

Across his Test career, KL Rahul has accumulated 3593 runs from 103 innings in 61 matches, with 10 hundreds and 18 fifties at an average of 35.57.

As India continues their campaign in England, the contributions of Pant and Rahul have not only helped the team on the field but have also etched their names into the record books with performances that will be remembered for years to come.