Rishabh Pant on Tuesday surpassed the iconic Mahendra Singh Dhoni to become the fastest Indian wicket-keeper-batsman to reach the 1,000-run mark in Test cricket during the final Test against Australia at the Gabba on Tuesday, January 19, 2021.
Pant achieved the feat in only 27 innings, scoring at an average of 40.04. Dhoni had taken 32 innings to reach the milestone.
Coming in to bat in India's second innings of the 4th Test, Pant needed only one run to achieve the record and he got to it by pulling Pat Cummins to get off the mark with a double.
Besides Pant and Dhoni, five other Indian stumpers -- Farokh Engineer (36 innings), Wriddhiman Saha (37 innings), Nayan Mongia (39 innings), Syed Kirmani (45 innings) and Kiran More (50 innings) have crossed the 1,000-run milestone in Test cricket.
South Africa's Quinton de Kock holds the record for being the fastest wicket-keeper batsman to reach 1,000 runs in Test matches -- he did sp in 21 innings.
De Kock is followed by Sri Lanka's Dinesh Chandimal (22 innings), England's Jonny Bairstow (22 innings), the legendary Kumar Sangakkara (23 innings) and South Africa's A B de Villiers (23 innings).
In 2019, Pant became the fastest Indian glovesman to account for 50 dismissals in Test cricket against the West Indies.
Pant scored a match-winning 89 not out off 138 balls on Tuesday as India won the fourth Test against Australia to clinch the series 2-1, thereby ending the home team's 32-year-old unbeaten run at 'Fortress Gabba'.
